


The Heart of Hyrule

by Doryflory



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Setting, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Hyrule - Freeform, Kingdom of Hyrule, Link talks, Magic, Memory Loss, Pre-Canon, Pre-Great Calamity and Post-Great Calamity, Romance, Sometimes A lot, The Great Calamity (Legend of Zelda), and confusion in general, and more flashbacks, and some extra lore, basically the whole game but with an extra character, breath of the wild - Freeform, lots of romantic confusion, tags may change as the work progresses, the legend of zelda - Freeform, there's fighting but none of it is very graphic or gory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 52,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26545183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doryflory/pseuds/Doryflory
Summary: Link, Zelda and Laya are three close friends, each occupied with their own duties and problems. While Zelda tries her hardest to awaken her sealing power, with Link ever by her side, Laya is being researched for her magical, elemental powers. No one, including Laya herself, knows why she has these powers, nor does she know where she came from; she just arrived at the castle one day, knowing nothing besides her name.Eventually, Laya's researchers discover something about her which could endanger everyone in the kingdom, and she is forced to take cover in Hyrule Forest.Shortly after this, Ganon breaks free.While Link and Zelda fight on the battlefield, Laya awaits her fate in the forest, but when Zelda arrives and informs her that she and Link may be gone for years, the distress causes Laya's powers to explode, and she falls into a deep slumber.Link and Laya wake up after a hundred years—deprived of all their memories—and coincidentally meet again, unaware of their shared past. When they discover they woke up at the same time, they decide to journey together, aiming to rescue the princess and figure out their lives in the process.But they find much more than they bargained for.
Relationships: Link & Original Character, Link & Zelda, Link & Zelda & Original Character, Link/Original Character, Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Zelda & Original Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this story came when I started fantisizing about Link not having to make the long journey through Hyrule by himself. Breath of the Wild is my favourite game of all time, so I found a lot of joy in brainstorming ideas and creating this fic! Although this project is 100% self-indulgent, I'm sharing it here in case others might like it. <3
> 
> I tried to stay as close to the game/canon lore as possible, but please let me know if you find any mistakes or irregularities! And of course, if I've written anything offensive, please inform me and I'll change it immediately.
> 
> I know not everyone likes reading about OCs (I rarely do it myself), but please give it a try if the premise interests you! I wrote this with a lot of love for the game, and I hope it shines through. <3

The legend of Hyrule is known to all. It features the knight with the sword that seals the darkness, the princess who descends from the Goddess, and the dark creature of malice, who can only be contained by the ancient sealing power. The legend is an endless cycle: the creature’s strength grows until it breaks free, and is then defeated and sealed away again by the knight and the princess. Time and time again.

But few know of the other legend; perhaps because it is a most ancient tale, hardly retold—perhaps because one of its protagonists never returned to Hyrule after her first appearance. Whatever the cause, only two of the legend’s most significant figures remained in memory. The knight and the Goddess’ descendant were never forgotten, but the third person was lost in the legend’s abandoned history. She was the elemental sorceress, an ancient being whose powers stem from Hyrule’s deepest core. She was born from the land and destined to protect it.

According to legend, the knight, the princess and the sorceress form that which is called the Heart of Hyrule.


	2. A Friendship of Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final warning: this work contains an OC! If that's not your cup of tea, just click away~
> 
> Otherwise: hope you enjoy the first chapter! <3

They were gathered on top of the stone archway between Zelda’s bedroom and study, looking down on the Sheikah tribe members that were trying to tame the giant, spider-like machines called Guardians. Once Ganon broke free, these Guardians would hopefully protect Hyrule against his power.

The three Hylians often did that these days, relaxing while keeping an eye on the developments. Zelda because she was immensely interested in the ancient Sheikah technology infused in these creations, Link because it was his task to remain by the princess’ side at all times, and Laya because she had nothing better to do and loved spending time with her friends.

Today’s atmosphere, however, was less carefree than usual.

It was only a few hours ago that King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule had reproached Zelda harshly at this exact spot. He had accused her of “playing at being a scholar” instead of trying to awaken her sealing power. But Zelda had been working at it day and night, and was tired of trying so hard and not reaping any results.

Link and Laya had continuously witnessed her efforts first-hand, and wished more than ever that there was something they could do to help.

After gazing at the Guardians with sad eyes for a few seconds, Zelda sighed and sank to the floor, resting her back against the stone balustrade she had been gazing over.

“If only I didn’t possess this cursed power,” she lamented. “Perhaps something went wrong at my birth and I don’t even have it at all.” She buried her face in her arms.

“Don’t say that, Zelda,” Laya tried to comfort her, as she sat down next to the princess. “I don’t think the legend could ever be wrong?”

“Maybe.” Zelda was in a grumpy mood. She had been mulling over her father’s words ever since she'd heard them, not knowing what to do.

“I know you’re struggling with it,” Laya said then, “but it’s important to enjoy yourself once in a while, too. His Highness can’t expect you to not have fun at all, can he?”

Zelda snickered weakly. “I’m afraid he can, and he would have your head if you said those words in his presence.”

“Let him try,” Laya grinned. “Just kidding; but I really don’t think you should repress your interests while you’re already working this hard. I wasn’t there when he told you not to dilly-dally, but we _know_ that you’re not.” She looked at the princess with stern eyes. “No one in this castle works harder at their job than you. Staying interested in your interests will give you the strength to continue. I know it will.”

“That is kind of you, thank you,” Zelda said. “But I think I should refrain from learning more about the ancient technology until my father’s anger has subsided at least a little.”

Laya looked down at her hands. “I see…”

“Besides,” the princess continued, forcing a serious expression. “I still need to visit two more springs.” She looked at her appointed knight, who was still standing in front of them. “Link, tomorrow we shall travel to the Spring of Power. Will you ask the stablemen to prepare my horse tomorrow morning, before you head off to your training at the end of this afternoon?”

Link nodded. “Yes, Princess.”

“Thank you.”

“What time do you think it is?” Laya asked.

“It seems to be around 4:00 PM,” Zelda answered, gazing at the sky.

“I knew it.” Laya looked up at the exact moment the sound of the tower’s bell chimed over the castle grounds. “Right, that’s what I was waiting for. Time to be researched.” She got up and looked at her friends. “See you at dinner!”

And she headed off.

Link and Zelda locked eyes.

He had a poignant look on his face, and Zelda sighed. "Tell me what's on your mind, Link."

Her knight blinked twice, moderately surprised by her ability to read him, before nodding once. Then he sat down on Laya’s previous spot next to the princess, who tensed a little but did not move. “I…know you’re worried about what your father said this morning, and I know I can't disapprove of his advice, but Laya has a point as well.”

“It’s not up to me to listen to all the different points presented to me, unfortunately,” Zelda said, looking away. “As the princess it’s my duty to set my own desires aside and make sure our land is safe. Ganon’s threat grows every single day and I’m not a step closer to my goal.”

Link looked somber. “I know. It’s going to be alright.”

Zelda sighed. “Laya is a good girl, isn’t she? I’m glad she came to the castle three years ago.” She crossed her arms and placed her cheek on them, looking at Link. “Sometimes I envy her…apparent freedom. But I know she has her own struggles, even if she doesn’t really show them.”

“I think her unknown past weighs more on her than she makes it seem.”

“And those repeated tests they perform on her can’t be too pleasant either… Even though they don’t hurt her, having yourself thoroughly researched every single week can’t be easy.”

Link nodded. “If only they’d find what they were looking for.”

“Her past is as hard to grasp as my sealing power.” Zelda sighed again and leaned the back of her head against the stone wall.

“Maybe that’s why you two get along so well,” Link said with a half-smile.

Zelda chuckled. “Perhaps. Although you two get along well, too, or am I wrong?”

“No.” Link looked in the direction that Laya had gone. “She’s a close friend.”

Zelda was quiet for a short while. “Just…just a close friend, or something else, too?”

A little blush crept over Link’s cheeks. “Up until now, just a close friend,” he said. “My…devotions are mostly reserved for someone else.”

At that, Zelda’s face heated up as well. “I see…” she said softly.

Since the atmosphere turned a little awkward, the two sat together in silence for a while. Link wished he had a reason to leave, but training didn’t start in two hours and Zelda had been allowed to take the rest of the afternoon off, so neither of them really had to go anywhere. Suddenly leaving would probably only enhance the awkwardness between them, even though they hadn’t said anything too bold or weird.

Link and Zelda had a bit of a past. Before he was appointed as Zelda’s personal knight, Link had just been one of the other knights in training and Zelda did not necessarily have to engage with him. The royal family had known for a while that Link was the knight chosen by the sword that seals the darkness, and thus she knew that their fates were entwined and they’d eventually have to spend a lot of time together.

Zelda had struggled warming up to Link. Unlike when she was figuring out her sealing power and investigating ancient technology by herself, she suddenly had a constant companion who followed her everywhere. A companion who had already figured out his destiny and who was ready to fulfil it, as opposed to her. She had lashed out at Link a few times, but after he had saved her life from the Yiga Clan and from many other enemies afterwards, she had decided to slowly let him into her heart and try to talk to this incomprehensible boy. Once she opened up to him, he’d started opening up in return, and now they were on comfortable-but-still-slightly-awkward speaking terms. Especially since Zelda had started to like him quite a bit throughout the past few days.

It didn’t help that Link had gotten along with Laya from the moment they met. Somehow it had been easier for him to open up to the mysterious girl who didn’t know her past than to the princess whose duty it was to protect the entire realm. A few times, during their breaks, she’d seen the two chat it up and she’d been silently raging with envy.

But in truth, Zelda liked Laya too and felt the same ease as Link did when talking to her. Zelda remembered the day Laya arrived at the castle, confused and worried, asking for help because she didn’t know anything about herself, other than her name. After some days of getting used to her new home, Laya had approached Zelda with openness and friendliness, and the two became friends quickly. When Zelda felt insecure or alone, she'd come to Laya to distract herself, which had resulted in a strong bond that the princess was very grateful for.

It wasn’t until a short while ago, when Zelda and Link got along slightly better, that the three started meeting up together.

“Link,” Zelda said then, and her knight looked up. “What do I do if I don’t awaken my power in time?”

Link studied her face for a second, before he looked away again. “Then I’ll keep protecting you until I can no longer stand.”

Despite Zelda’s surprise upon hearing the sincerity in his voice, she didn’t show that his words made an impact on her. She accepted his promise with slight reluctance. “Fine. But when I tell you to run, you have to run. Understood?”

Link watched her with a grumpy expression. She knew how much he disliked being away from her; it made him feel like he wasn’t fulfilling his task well.

After stubbornly looking at each other, the two turned away.

“The Divine Beasts and the sword should be of some use, too,” Link muttered, instead of agreeing to her command.

“I guess so…” Zelda replied softly.

Zelda wasn’t fully comforted, but Link knew nothing else to say. He wondered to what extent Laya would be able to help, since her powers appeared to hold a strong and destructive force deep within. Though he didn’t like to ponder the thought, Zelda would probably be burdened less if Laya were able to help out against Calamity Ganon. He thought it not impossible—especially because he couldn’t imagine Laya _not_ wanting to help out. She had been a strong spirit from the moment they met.

Link had to admit that he hardly knew what they had found out about her powers so far. He thought back to the day he asked Laya about the researches.

~~~

It was a warm autumn afternoon and Link was on his way to Hyrule Forest Park. He had been dismissed by Zelda because she was taking a long bath and refused to let him wait outside for her; it was only a month since he'd become her appointed knight, and they didn’t get along that well yet.

So, to pass the time, he’d gone to take a nap in a nick in the hallway close to the kitchen, where he had been caught by the palace’s cook. Angry at his laziness, the woman had ordered him to bring her apples from outside and, feeling threatened by her soup ladle, he’d reluctantly left for the park. When he arrived there, he’d found Laya sleeping in one of the trees, and he chuckled at the relatability.

He wasn’t that close to Laya yet, but he already considered her a friend. He stopped in front of her tree, took the axe resting against it and chopped at the trunk a few times, so that several apples fell off the branches.

Laya shrieked awake, sat up straight and wrapped her arms around the main stem. Link couldn’t help but laugh.

As soon as she saw him, she frowned and grumbled something along the lines of “what the heck.” She was still muttering incoherently when she turned her back to him and clambered out of the tree.

She jumped down the last meter, turned to Link and placed her hands on her hips. “Now there’s a dent in the tree! The royal gardener is not gonna be happy with you.”

“Add him to the pile. Wanna help me pick some apples?”

“Not really. What makes you think I’d help the person who disturbed my pleasant dream?”

Link crouched and started collecting the fruits that had fallen from Laya’s bed-tree. “Because I may have accidentally angered Mrs. Birdbelly and could use a hand.”

She huffed in amusement. “That’s your own fault. _I_ was having a well-deserved snooze.” She took a step towards Link and crouched as well, working herself into his line of vision. “Why are you not with Zelda?”

“She’s, er, taking a bath, and doesn’t want me around.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“And why were you sleeping in a tree?”

“Just waiting to be called up, like always. Gotta keep finding things to keep myself occupied with. Though I often pick sleeping when my inspiration forsakes me.”

“I feel you.”

She chuckled softly. “I’d love to hang out with Zelda, or someone else… But everyone’s always busy—with good reason, of course, but still.”

Hearing the tone in her voice, he gazed up and detected a glint of loneliness in her expression.

“You and I can hang out sometimes,” he suggested after a short silence. “When I’m free.”

“We can?”

“Of course.”

She tilted her head and thought about that for a few seconds. “I would like that.”

There was a friendly twinkle in his eye, before his grin turned devious.

“Our first hang-out activity should be collecting apples.” And he pushed his pickings into her arms.

She pursed her lips. “Maybe if you ask me kindly I will not drop these on your feet.”

He snickered. “Will you please help me? We can talk some more, too.”

“Okay, sure. But only because you said ‘please’.” She carefully laid the fruits near the bottom of the tree. “See? Aren’t I the kindest?”

“Definitely.”

And the collective collecting began.

“So…you guys travel a lot, right?” Laya asked as she climbed back into her tree to pick from there. “You and Zelda.”

Link nodded. “That’s right.”

“What kind of places do you visit?”

“Mostly sites which interest the princess with regard to the ancient Sheikah technology. There are plans of traveling to the Divine Beasts soon.”

“Wow, that sounds amazing. Is it fun? Traveling?”

“I enjoy it,” Link answered. “Though the princess doesn’t seem to appreciate my company all the time.”

She looked at his hesitant face and jumped down from the tree. “Maybe she just needs to warm up to you. She’s kind, you’re kind…it should work out.”

He threw her a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Hang in there,” Laya smiled back. Then she looked around. “We need a basket or something. Hold on, I’ll get one.”

When she returned from the castle, Link had collected quite a bunch.

“So…this is probably a rude thing to ask,” Laya mumbled as she put the basket on the grass and started placing the fruits inside. “But do you think I could accompany you guys sometime?”

Link approached with more apples and dropped them in the basket. “The princess should probably decide that, but it’d be fine by me.”

“Really?” She looked up, almost surprised with that answer. “That alone already cheers me up. It must be amazing, going to all these different places and meeting a lot of people, like the Champions. Remember that time I took that image of you, Zelda and them? They were so majestic and magical… I’d love to see them again.”

“There are probably sites we’ll travel to which you should be allowed to visit as well,” Link said. Laya had some sort of contract with the king, which stated that she wouldn’t stray from the castle too far without his permission. “Maybe you should ask the princess when you see her.”

“Oh, I will!” She placed her hands against her cheeks. “Now I’m getting excited. It would be great to see more of the world than just the castle.”

The two had collected apples for a while when Link grew curious in return.

“Laya, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she answered, standing on tiptoes to reach a particularly high-hanging apple.

“What kind of tests do they perform on you in the lab?”

“Oh.” She plucked the fruit and landed on her feet again. “It differs every time. Sometimes they test the endurance of my powers, sometimes their components, their energy levels, the body parts in which they flow strongest, etcetera.” She shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder why we’re still doing it after all this time, since we’ve hardly found anything except which natural powers are included, and that I could’ve found out by myself.”

“So…which ones are they exactly?”

“Well, they have to do with the four elements,” she answered, counting on her fingers. “I can summon and control water, fire, wind and earth. And, well…I haven’t told Mrs. Impa about this but I feel like I have some kind of…mental power as well, but I’m not sure what that means.”

“Mental power?” Link repeated curiously, repositioning the apples in the basket so he could fit some more.

She nodded. “But I have no clue what it could be. It’s just some feeling…” Her eyes lowered to the apple she was holding. Her voice turned soft. “For some reason there are a lot of feelings all the time.”

“Feelings?” Link repeated, setting himself down next to their basket. “What kind?”

Laya was quiet for a moment, thinking. “Old feelings. Unknown feelings. Scared and worried feelings. Powerful feelings, too. I feel like I should know where I come from but I just don’t.” She turned towards Link with a sorrowful expression. “I was hoping the researches would help shaping my past, but so far they haven’t found any clues.”

Compassion swam in Link’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

She licked over her lips, headed over and sat down on the other side of the basket, putting the few apples she was holding onto the pile. “Well, I’m kind of used to not knowing, by now. I just hope we won’t suddenly discover any unpleasant histories. Like I’ve secretly used my powers for crimes or something.” She snickered softly. “But I’ve checked the historical criminal records of the past few years and nothing mentions a girl who could set stuff on fire with a snap of her fingers, so perhaps I’m fine.” She put her elbow on her knee and leaned her chin on the palm of her hand. “I wonder if there’ve ever been other people with magical powers like mine. You know, like you and Zelda have predecessors that were like you.”

“Me too,” Link answered. “I’ve never heard about or met someone who could do the things you can. It’s quite special.”

“I guess so… But I wonder, why then? I’ve looked throughout all the public books on magic in the library but nothing mentions what I have.” She looked at her hands, the body parts she used to perform her magic. “I could be all alone.”

He studied her in silence for a few seconds. “Would that be a bad thing?”

“Oh, I…I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I mean, it could be. What if it appears that I’m actually as dangerous as Ganon and we all don’t know it?”

That question caused a heavy silence between them.

“If that’s so, wouldn’t you be able to stop him best of all?” He smiled softly. “I think you could be dangerous if you wanted to, but so far that hasn’t been the case, right?”

“No, of course not! Never." She quickly waved her hands in front of her face, before dropping them on her lap and looking sideways. “Do you…know anything about all the magical powers in Hyrule?”

Link hummed softly. “Not much… I believe the Sheikah have some sort of power; I heard some of them can transform? And there are some magical creatures as well, like fairies, but I’ve never seen them.”

“Fairies? Really?” She watched Link with wide eyes. “I didn’t come across those during my research! You know what? I’m just gonna dig through the entire library and get as educated as possible.”

“That does sound like a good way to fill the day.”

“It does, doesn’t it? Ah well…” She took an apple from the basket and took a bite. “I just hope everything will feel a bit less fruitless in a while.”

~~~

Since then, Laya had never informed them about any other discoveries, so Link assumed they hadn’t found anything new. He and Zelda sat together on the stone bridge until it was time for Link to go, and he headed towards the stables to inform the stablemen of tomorrow’s trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you reached this far, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Find me on tumblr at aarafox.tumblr.com!


	3. Mental Danger

The next morning, the three friends gathered near the gate.

“So…you’re sure I can’t come as well?” Laya asked carefully. She’d joined the two on several journeys by now, but always for diplomatic reasons or research reasons; never for sealing-power reasons. She’d come to quite love traveling around the kingdom, even though she hadn’t seen too many places yet.

“I’m sorry,” Zelda replied, patting her beautiful white horse. “This is something I have to do on my own. I cannot allow myself to get distracted, and you know I would just want to talk with you all the time if you came along.”

That comment made Laya smile. “Okay. Good luck then.”

“Thank you.” Zelda came in for a hug before mounting her horse and guiding it in the direction of the gate. “Let’s go, Link.”

Link, already in the saddle, waved Laya goodbye before following the princess over the castle bridge, towards the town.

Laya sighed and turned her back to the closing gates, heading towards the castle. The previous ancient-spring trip had taken about two days, so it was probably going to be the same this time; she’d have to find stuff to do by herself again.

With her hands in the pockets of her leggings, she shuffled back towards the castle. Lately, her head had been feeling a little heavier than before, but she didn’t know why. She had been in perfect health from the moment she arrived at the castle some years ago, so this was new.

She wondered what she would’ve done if the king hadn’t been so kind to take her in and provide her with a safe home, in return for the research they performed on her powers. She’d never known why the king wanted to have them researched, exactly; perhaps he considered her a danger, despite her disarming demeanor; perhaps he hoped her powers would come in handy when the inevitable threat hanging over the kingdom would finally break free, or perhaps he wanted to help find out what had happened in her past and how her powers had come to be. Whatever the reason, he had never told her, and, to be honest, Laya didn’t want to ask. She was already so grateful that he let her stay here that she didn’t want to probe about his motivations. Moreover, the king was kind of scary.

And by letting her stay, the king had given her the opportunity to befriend her two favorite Hylians: Link and Zelda were both fantastic young people with whom she’d had a lot of fun whenever either of the two was free. Life in the castle would have been quite boring without them, and she wondered whether she would’ve stayed if she didn’t have them. Perhaps she would have left and tried to find answers elsewhere…but then again, if some of the most esteemed scientists of Hyrule couldn’t find any answers to her questions, probably no one could.

She didn’t really have anywhere else to go, did she? And now that she had befriended Link and Zelda, she didn’t really _want_ to settle somewhere else, either.

When Calamity Ganon broke out…would she be able to fight alongside her friends? The authorities had allowed her to test her fighting abilities in the Royal Coliseum in the south-west of Hyrule Field, which had delighted her; it appeared that she was quite a skilled combatant! She hoped they’d accept her services when the time came and that the royal family would let her protect the kingdom as well. She wouldn’t be able to stand by and watch it all happen from the sidelines, that was certain.

At 4:00 PM, the bell chimed and Laya took off to the Royal Ancient Lab. The lab was a large and interesting building, full of ancient Sheikah artefacts, extensive collections of books and notes and complex machines used for research. Princess Zelda had spent lots of hours in this building, but Laya herself had only ever seen the main research room. She was required to come to the lab every normal weekday from 4:00 to 5:00 PM and was off on the weekends.

Upon entering the room, Laya found not only her usual researcher, Sheikah tribe member and official royal advisor Impa, but also Impa’s older sister, Purah.

Impa usually researched Laya by herself, but sometimes she received help from an assistant or, very rarely, from Purah or Purah’s subordinate, Robbie. Purah and Robbie were frequently traveling the land recovering and researching ancient Sheikah technology—oftentimes with Zelda—and together with Impa they were in charge of the lab and stopped by often. Purah was more of a scientist than Impa, but because Purah was…rather whimsical and often unexpectedly away, the king had requested Impa be in charge of Laya’s researches. On random days, Purah or Robbie would help Impa out with the mystery of Laya’s powers. Today was such a day, apparently.

“Hello Mrs. Purah,” Laya said, walking up to the round platform on which most of the researches were performed. Purah and Impa seemed to be around Laya’s age, yet she always addressed them like they were older than her—they were a whole lot wiser, at least.

“Hey Laya, long time no see! How are you today?” Purah threw a smile in her direction. She was bent over her notes, which were lying on a low table standing against the left wall of the room.

“I’m fine,” Laya replied, stepping onto the dais. “Zelda and Link just took off to the Spring of…Power, I believe.”

“Oh, I see,” Impa said, appearing from behind the machine used for measuring Laya’s power. “Let’s hope she returns with good news this time.”

“Yep.”

“So, today we will check the body parts in which your magic flows strongest,” Purah began, walking up to them with her notes on her right lower arm and a pencil in her left hand. “So the head and the hands. We were thinking of adjusting the frequency of the sensory receptors to check whether your power’s wavelength corresponds with any other elemental powers that have been found throughout Hyrule over the past few years. Who knows if we can get some hold of where your powers came from.”

“Oh, haven’t we tried that before?” Laya asked, looking at Impa. She vaguely remembered hearing a similar incomprehensible story.

Impa nodded. “Yes, but the setting we’re going to try today can only detect the smallest, subtlest signals, so we thought it futile to check; we assumed something similar to your powers would be substantial or prominent, but it seems that _if_ there is something out there, we need to find it in the smaller details.”

“This was my idea,” Purah said cheerfully. “Let’s hope it works!”

“Okay,” said Laya. “I’m ready.”

Impa first attached several little suction cups to the palms of her hands and then checked the power meter next to the platform to see whether it was ready to begin. She nodded towards Purah, who wrote down the starting numbers, and turned on the machine, so that the little cups started vibrating.

“Let me see that fire power, Laya!” Purah said, scribbling some more in her notebook.

Laya did as she was told, and two small flames appeared in her hands.

“And? Seeing anything we hoped for?” Purah eagerly asked Impa, who was gazing at the meter.

“Not really,” the advisor replied and she turned a little rotary knob next to the screen displaying the power levels.

Unfortunately, there were no results with water, earth or wind either, and Laya sighed. She couldn’t even remember the last time they’d actually discovered something new.

“Laya, the king asked me to tell you something,” Impa began when she took the cups from her palms and started attaching them to her forehead.

“Yeah?”

“He would like you to begin fighting lessons,” Impa continued. “With the knights. His Highness thinks it might help you learn how to use your powers for combat.”

Laya’s eyes widened. “Really?! I’d love that!”

“Yes,” Impa said with a smile. “We thought it a good idea as well. His Highness received extensive reports from Princess Zelda and was apparently convinced; we might need to use your magic someday.”

Laya nodded eagerly. “Got it! Where do I go?”

“The king expects you in the throne room after today’s research.”

“Oh, I can’t wait,” Laya said, basically jumping up and down on the platform, disrupting the wires attached to the cups on her forehead.

“I know, I know,” Impa said, putting her hands on Laya’s shoulders and holding her steady. “But we’re not finished yet, so hold that enthusiasm for a bit.”

After Laya had calmed down, Impa and Purah began the procedure. After a few seconds of Laya using her power and Impa peering at the screen, the latter suddenly mumbled, “Hold on a sec…” She then gestured to Purah. “Come see this.”

Purah headed over and came to stand next to her, looking at the meter as well. “Hey, that’s interesting.”

“What is?” Laya asked, still holding those small flames in her hands.

“I can’t say for sure,” Impa murmured. “It looks like some…mental gap of sorts.”

Laya raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I don’t have a brain?”

Purah laughed.

“Not exactly,” Impa continued. “This is extremely subtle.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“It’s about the mental storage of your magic,” Purah said, turning away from the meter and looking at her. “Your brain is fully active when you perform your magic, except for a small part that seems…empty. Not physically, I mean—it’s not like there’s a hole in your brain—but mentally; as if there’s room in there, for…something else.”

Laya blinked. “I don’t understand. What kind of ‘something else’?”

“A connection, maybe.” Purah crossed her arms. “But we’d have to look into it.”

“Agreed. I think it’s best we finish up for today so we can investigate this some more.”

“Oh,” Laya said. “Okay.”

Impa approached her and carefully took the cups from her head, while Laya deactivated her magic. She hopped off the platform.

“Then, let me know when you know more?” Laya asked as she moved towards the door.

“We will,” Impa said with a curt nod.

“Say hi to the king for us!” Purah said, cheerfully waving Laya goodbye.

“Will do!” And with exciting nerves in her stomach, Laya returned to the castle and made her way to the throne room. When she arrived there, the king was waiting for her with his hands behind his back. Several muscled Hylians were standing in two rows on either side of him.

“Your Majesty,” Laya said and kneeled in front of him.

“Laya, I take it that Impa has informed you,” the king began. “As you know, we deem it wise that you learn how to control your powers in matters of combat. If you do so, you could qualify for the royal army and receive a special position in one of our battalions. Would you be willing to take up this training?”

“Yes, I would!” Laya exclaimed, jumping up.

“Good.” The king turned towards the women and men standing by his sides. “These are the Hylians who will train you. We expect you to spend two hours a day working with them on your martial arts, after which you can slowly learn how to add your magic to your moves.”

“Sounds wonderful. Can I start today?”

The king nodded. “You can follow these knights to the Guards’ Chamber, where your training shall commence.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Laya bowed again, before heading after her new trainers to the Guards' Chamber.

Learning combat was immensely exciting. In the Coliseum she had already proven her skill at fighting, but learning the theory, the details and the advanced moves was incredible. She was a fast learner, and after the first two hours had already impressed her many coaches.

The next day, Laya went to the Royal Ancient Lab to be researched again, but Impa and Purah—who had decided to stick around—sent her away, telling her they were still investigating the findings of the day before.

Confused and surprised—since this had never happened before—Laya headed towards the Rauru Settlement. On one of her free afternoons, during which Link and Zelda were gone traveling, Laya had wandered around the castle moat, admiring the landscape. One of the rules was that she wouldn’t stray from the castle too far unless permitted, but the Rauru Settlement appeared to be within those acceptable limits. She had met someone there who she’d come to like a great deal, and in who she had confided about the developments surrounding her magic. Sometimes she made a pit stop at the settlement before continuing to the Military Training Camp, to secretly watch the knights training there, hoping to join one day.

It made her happy to realize that day might not be too far off.

Several Hylians were working around the houses when she arrived at Rauru. The person she was looking for was currently hauling a bucket from the well.

“Hi Lynn,” Laya said as she spotted him.

The guy pulled the bucket over the edge of the well with immense strength and then turned around to face her. His countenance lit up when he saw who’d called him.

“Hi Laya,” he said, as he waggled closer with the bucket handle in both his hands. “How’ve you been?”

Lynn was an attractive young man with warm brown hair and even warmer brown eyes. He lived a simple life in the settlement with his family, though he’d mentioned once that he’d love to travel all across Hyrule. Lynn and Laya were about the same age, and although Laya didn’t consider him as close a friend as Link and Zelda, she enjoyed spending time with him. He was a soothing presence for her sometimes-turmoiled mind.

“I’m fine,” Laya smiled as Lynn placed the bucket on the ground between them. “They don’t need me at the lab today.”

“Oh?” Lynn said. “That’s new?”

“Yeah,” Laya snickered. “They’ve never sent me away before.”

“Is anything wrong?”

“Not really, but apparently they found something yesterday that they want to investigate some more before we continue.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I wonder what that is, then.”

“I’ll let you know once they’ve told me.”

“Good,” Lynn said with a smile. “Hey, you wanna sit down somewhere?”

“Sure!”

Lynn picked up the bucket and brought it to his house, before returning to her and taking her to one of the benches outside the settlement, where they often sat down to talk. It had a lovely view of the castle.

Laya couldn’t remember ever having kept secrets from Lynn. Although the two had little in common, they had a nick for understanding each other’s feelings and thoughts. This made it comfortable for them to overshare about their own lives, even when the other couldn’t really relate.

After conversing for some hours, Laya remembered that Link and Zelda would probably return soon. She got up, wished Lynn a great evening and quickly returned to Hyrule Castle via the Helmhead and Boneyard Bridges.

She was waiting behind the giant gate when the guards in the towers announced their arrival and began to open the metal doors. Laya perked up with excitement and stood on her toes, trying to get a better look.

Soon her friends were in front of her again.

“And?” Laya asked, approaching Zelda’s white horse. But the princess looked solemn.

“No results,” she said with a soft voice. Laya could immediately tell how much she was suffering from this.

“Oh no…” Laya said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“We only have one spring left.” Zelda dismounted and handed her reins over to Link. “I will travel there on my birthday.”

“On your birthday?” Laya took Zelda by the arm and led her to the castle, while Link took their horses to the stables. “But why?”

“Those younger than seventeen are not permitted to enter,” Zelda explained. “So I must go as soon as I can.”

“So…we’ll not celebrate, then? I was already thinking about what to give you.”

Zelda smiled at her for a few seconds. “That’s kind. But perhaps we can celebrate in the evening…hopefully after I’ve awakened my power.” Then she stopped and turned to Laya. “You might want to wave us goodbye in the early morning.”

“I always do,” said Laya, “but why this time?”

Zelda smirked. “Because the Champions will accompany me to the Spring of Wisdom.”

“Ooooh, they will?” Sparkles appeared in her eyes. “I’ll definitely come! How early are you guys leaving?”

“5:00 AM.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Seriously?”

Zelda giggled. “Yes, I’m sorry.”

Laya was happy to see her smile again. “Ah well, it’s fine. I might be used to it by then.” She took Zelda’s arm again and continued the way upwards to the castle. “ _Because_ …I’ve been asked to train in combat with some of the knights.”

“Oh my goodness,” said Zelda with shock. “Really?”

“Yes! Isn’t it great? This means I might fight alongside you once Ganon escapes! Apparently you managed to convince the king when you told him about my Coliseum endeavors.”

“Did I now?” she said with a weak smile. “I’m happy for you, but please don’t forget that it could be extremely dangerous. Back when I told him, I…had more hope that I’d awaken my sealing power on time. Now I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Zelda…" She paused, unsure what to say. "But then, wouldn’t it be even better if I could step in to help?”

“Yes, but that’s not the issue, Laya… I’m afraid to lose you, just as I’m afraid to lose all the others I care about. That is all. You don’t know whether your powers will be able to stand against Ganon; you might lose your life.”

Laya eyed her in silence for a second. “But so might you and Link.”

“I am aware of that…” Zelda’s eyes were dark, and Laya suddenly realised her mood had only been growing worse since a couple of days. “Link says he wants to protect me until he can no longer stand, but…”

Laya smiled a little. “That sounds like him.”

“I want him to survive, Laya,” Zelda said sternly. “I can’t have people risking their lives for me when I’m so incapable that I can’t even awaken my sealing power.”

“You’re not incapable, Zelda. You’re working harder than anyone! Besides, we would _all_ risk our lives for you if given the chance, sealing power or no.”

Zelda looked up and met her eyes. Then she bit her lip and turned away. “You didn’t hear my father when he reprimanded me. He told me that the gossip mongers refer to us as ‘a throne of nothing’, because it looks like there’s no future for us.”

“ _What_?” Laya’s brow furrowed. “That’s so rude!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine already,” Zelda said, waving her hand dismissively. “As long as I don’t have my power they’re not incorrect.”

Laya shook her head in disbelief. “You don’t mean that. You’re literally attempting to save us all! Without you we wouldn’t stand a chance in the first place!” She growled. “I can’t stand this. Who’re those mongers?”

“Your anger is appreciated, Laya, but there is really nothing I can do. I will keep praying until the day of my birth, and then we shall visit the Spring of Wisdom and hope for the best.”

Laya grumbled. “On your birthday…”

Zelda patted Laya’s handask what.

Zelda’s birthday was in a week, and despite that she’d probably be unable to celebrate it, Laya was still planning to get her a present. It had to be something that would lift her spirits when she returned from the spring. But with this, too, her inspiration kept forsaking her. Zelda didn’t have anything specific she wanted and Laya was bad at coming up with ideas.

Laya had decided to be excited in Zelda’s stead, so she was constantly hopping between her bedroom, the Guards' Chamber and Rauru to discuss ideas with Lynn. When time permitted it, she would be hanging out with Link or chat over tea with Zelda; but the knight and the princess were busy, so they were often separated.

Three days before Zelda’s birthday, Laya still didn’t know what to give. But a quick visit to the Royal Ancient Lab erased any thought of presents anyway.

When Laya had arrived at the building, Impa and Purah had gone to work straight away. They’d finished their investigation of that “mental gap” and wanted to check some last measurements. Laya was placed on the platform and the caps were attached to her forehead again. They asked her to activate her powers, Laya did so, and the two women peered at the meter.

After a few seconds already, they asked her to stop.

Then they started discussing something.

“Should we tell her?”

“We should. And we should probably tell her our idea.”

“We must bring this information to the king, Purah. We can’t keep this a secret from him.”

“This is dangerous…”

“Can I…ask what’s happening?” Laya tried carefully.

The two women looked at each other in silence for a little while, before turning attention back to her. Impa took the caps off her forehead.

“Laya, we made three discoveries, none of them very good,” she told her. “We’ll take you to the king and explain everything there.”

Laya, worry twirling in her stomach, followed the two scientists to the throne room, where the king was waiting for them in his seat. Zelda was present as well, and so was Link. He was standing next to her with the tip of his sword in its sheath against the floor in front of him, like a professional appointed knight.

“Impa, Purah,” the king began when everyone was in position: Impa and Purah next to each other in the centre of the chamber and Laya about one meter behind them. Link and Zelda were both looking at her with confusion, and Laya tried to nonverbally inform them that she had no idea what was going on. “You have new information, I take it.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Impa began. “It’s a rather disturbing discovery, unfortunately.”

“Then, speak.”

Impa nodded. She received her notes from Purah and looked through them. “We discovered that Laya’s magic is, indeed, connected to other parts of Hyrule.”

Laya wanted to exclaim in surprise, but forced herself to keep quiet. That was indeed the first new discovery since…months? Years?

“It appears it is connected to several different points all over the land, although we cannot pinpoint which ones exactly and how. There is one place that we _can_ locate, however. And that is right beneath our feet.”

A collective gasp went through the room. Link and Zelda's eyes shot back to Laya, while the king gazed intensely at Impa.

“ _Ganon_?” he said with a booming, threatening voice. Laya cringed.

“Yes, but not in the way you think. I request you remain calm until I have told you everything, my lord.”

King Rhoam leaned back into his chair, but the tension was visible in his face and in the way he clenched the sides of his huge throne. “Continue.”

“Her magical powers vibrate with Ganon’s, but they are not related. Anything but that, actually.” Impa swallowed and looked at her notes. “Her magic tells us one thing, and that is how quickly Ganon’s power is growing. And also when it might possibly…reach its peak.”

A silence fell.

The king leaned forward. “You’re telling me Laya’s magic can predict when Calamity Ganon breaks free?”

“It’s something like that, yes. Her energy levels have been steadily rising throughout the past few weeks and we weren’t sure why, but now we know that it is because they can sense Ganon’s. In reply to the growing strength of the darkness, it seems her powers are preparing to defend their source, Laya herself.” She gestured to the flabbergasted girl behind her.

“So she could be of use in the fight against him, then?” King Rhoam inquired.

The collective surprise was big when Impa shook her head.

“But didn’t you just say her powers are responding to Ganon’s?” Zelda asked her.

“I did, but there is something else.” Impa gave the notes to Purah, who took a step forward.

“There appears to be a small gap in the mental storage of Laya’s magic,” Purah began. “And this gap can be filled, with a connection of some sorts. Or another kind of magic, coming from an external source. Unfortunately this gap is not a loose fragment and is connected to pretty much all other parts of her brain.”

“What are you trying to say, Purah?” the king urged.

“I’m saying that if Ganon’s power nestles itself in Laya’s mind, he has access to her magical powers and can take control of them. This brings us to our third point.” Purah looked at the king, then to the princess and her knight. “When used in the wrong hands, Laya’s magic can be immensely destructive.”

“It can?” Laya asked. Her eyes automatically trailed to Link, who raised his eyebrows at her.

“So when Ganon breaks free, and his dark power reaches Laya’s mind, he can take control of it and her magic, which he can use against us?” the king checked.

The sisters nodded.

“Oof…” Laya breathed, placing a hand against her head. “That’s not good.” 

This was quite upsetting, yet she couldn’t help but wish that Impa and Purah had elaborated a bit on those other places her magic was connected to.

“What do you advise we do about this? This means she mustn’t be around the castle when Ganon escapes his dark prison,” King Rhoam said.

“That’s correct, my lord.”

Laya blinked. “You're sending me away?” She took a step forward. “Wait, please, I don’t know any other places besides the castle!”

“Father, there must be another way,” Zelda began. “We cannot—”

“Silence!” the king boomed, and everyone cringed again. He looked at the Sheikah scientists. “What. Do. You. Suggest?”

“We can indeed not send her away, my lord. That will not bring about the result we hope for,” Impa said. “Wherever she goes, Laya will pose a risk. We must bring her somewhere where she is protected from Ganon’s darkness. A place that is protected _by_ magic and where Ganon’s power can’t reach.”

“Great Hyrule Forest,” Zelda muttered softly.

Impa nodded.

“So that’s where I’ll be going,” Laya mumbled, eyes filled with worry. “Because Ganon might take control of my brain when he breaks free.” She shivered as she spoke the words. “When will he do that, anyway?”

“We can’t pinpoint, exactly,” Purah answered. The look on her face proved that she was bothered by it. “But it can’t be long. We suggest that, for safety’s sake, Laya is brought to Hyrule Forest either tonight or tomorrow morning. It’s too dangerous to have her around here: we’d have an incredibly powerful enemy within the walls of the castle.”

“Oh no.” Laya sank to the floor and watched her hands in sadness. “Of all the things we could’ve found out about my powers…”

Zelda left her throne to join Laya’s side and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be alright, Laya. You’ll be safe in Hyrule Forest.”

Laya raised her eyes to meet Zelda’s. “That means I’m not with you when Ganon breaks free… And I’ll miss your birthday, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Zelda said, and she took Laya in an embrace. Laya caught Link’s eyes over the princess’ shoulder. They looked somber.

“But do you understand?” Zelda asked as she let go. “Why you have to go to the forest?”

“Yes… I’ll go, if that’s safer for everyone.” She laughed sadly. “I’ll be so worried about all of you, though.”

“You are absolutely sure that Laya’s magic is in no other way connected to that of Calamity Ganon?” King Rhoam asked the scientists.

The women nodded. “A hundred percent sure, Your Majesty.”

“Good.” The king sank back into his throne. “This is some awful news. I was hoping to use Laya’s magic in this fight against Ganon.”

“So was I, sire,” Laya said. She looked at the sisters. “Will I never be able to leave the forest ever again, as long as Ganon is on the loose?”

“You will be able to leave once Ganon is confined by the sealing power,” Purah said. “But before that, it’s too dangerous to come back here.”

Laya put a hand over her eyes. Zelda rubbed small circles over her upper arm. 

It was quiet for a few moments.

“Laya,” King Rhoam said then. “I want you to leave for the forest tomorrow morning. So you will have one last night here in the castle.”

Laya looked up, nothing but sadness in her eyes. “Yes, my lord.”


	4. Awakenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'll be awaiting you."

The next day was an interesting but gloomy one. Laya had collected her belongings in one big backpack, which hung over her shoulders. She had already said goodbye to the king, thanking him for everything he’d done for her over the past few years; to Impa and Purah, wishing she could still be in contact with them from her place in the forest so that they could inform her of any new findings; to Lynn, telling him she’d miss him and that he and his family should probably leave to find a residence further from the castle; and now it was time to say goodbye to the princess. Link would bring Laya to the forest, because he knew the way quite well.

“I can’t do this…” Laya whispered as she stood in front of Zelda. “You and Link are more important to me than anything… I can’t just say goodbye?”

“It’s going to be alright…” Zelda said softly. “It soothes my mind to know that you at least will be safe from Calamity Ganon.”

“It doesn’t soothe mine,” Laya shook her head. “You guys will be on the front lines while I’m hiding in there.”

Zelda looked somber. “It’s the only way, I’m afraid.”

“Yeah… Just promise me you’ll be careful. Please come get me if you need me after all.”

“I’ll make sure to awaken my sealing power before that happens,” Zelda said with a small smile.

“The Spring of Wisdom better provide that wisdom it’s so famous for,” Laya said, shaking a finger.

The princess couldn’t help but giggle. “Yeah…” The two friends looked at each other for a few seconds. “I’ll miss you, Laya.”

“Me too…” Laya sighed. “I wish things were different. Good luck at the spring. Say hi to the Champions for me, and be safe.”

“Got it. You stay put until we come and get you.”

“I hope my patience doesn’t run out!”

The two stepped forward and hugged each other tightly.

Then Laya straightened the bands of her backpack and turned to Link, who was waiting for her on his horse.

“Time to go.” He presented her his hand and helped her onto his steed, so that she was seated steadily behind him.

“I hope we’ll see each other soon,” said Laya solemnly, looking at Zelda.

“So do I.” Zelda took a step back. “Goodbye.”

“Take care of yourself.”

“You too.” The princess managed a reassuring smile, but as soon as Link and Laya had disappeared through the gate, that smile vanished.

The trip to Great Hyrule Forest wasn’t long. Link rode his horse along the east side of Hyrule Castle, past Hyrule Forest Park—a place they’d often visited with the three of them—along the bank of Hylia River and through the Rauru Settlement, then passed through Minshi Woods, which bordered the Military Training Camp on its east side, continued in the morning shadow of Death Mountain and at last arrived at the entrance of the forest.

Link reined his horse in. “Here we are.”

Laya looked at the ominous mist swirling between the two stone walls that introduced the woods. “Looks cozy,” she mumbled.

“It’s not as dark in the center,” Link told her. “It’s quite lively there. Lots of Koroks.”

“Hmmm.” Laya knew about the Koroks, but she’d never seen one. Unrest gripped her about the heart again, and she made no attempt to get off the horse’s back.

Link turned in the saddle so that he could look at her. Her eyes were hesitant as they gazed at the veiled passage.

“I won’t be able to know what’s happening, will I?” she mumbled then.

“I don’t think so…”

“And I won’t be able to help out if things go wrong,” she sighed.

“Yeah… But _you_ might be the thing going wrong if you stay.”

Her face hardened. “Right.” She swung one leg over the backside of the horse and dropped herself to the grassy floor.

She raised her eyes to Link and prepared to say goodbye, when he suddenly dismounted as well.

“I—” she began when they were at the same eye level again. “Hello.”

Link smiled at her. “I need to show you something.”

He led the way to the rocky walls.

“Are you coming with me?” Laya asked hopefully, when he didn’t stop and stepped into the clove, entering the woods before her.

He shook his head. “But there’s something you need to know before you head in.”

Mist and darkness closed about them as they advanced into the forest. Laya eyed the cheerless trees with suspicion, as if it was their fault that this area was so unwelcoming.

They soon passed through a small stone archway, after which they took a path marked by flaming torches. Link halted when they reached the last two flames of the route. A portable torch was placed against the right pole, which he picked up and handed to Laya.

“Light it.”

Laya brought her free hand to the tip and enveloped it with fire, so that it caught flame. She held it in front of her, illuminating the mist around them. There was a frightening tree right behind the two poles, with a huge gap in its broad trunk that looked exactly like a wide, grinning mouth. Laya scowled at it.

“You’re gonna have to follow the wind,” Link told her, turning around and pointing past the tree, into the woods. “It will lead you to the center. If you stray from the right path, you will be brought back to this point.”

That information made her shudder. She took a deep breath and steadied her grip on the torch. “Sounds marvelous. Guess it’s time for me to go then.”

Link looked back at her, and for the first time today she saw sincere worry burning in his eyes. “I’ll come for you as soon as I can.”

She nodded slowly. “Alright. I’ll be awaiting you. But don’t you dare leave Zelda’s side before everything is fully safe again.”

He placed a hand on the back of his head and looked to the side, mumbling, “I don’t think I would be capable of doing that even if I tried.”

“Good,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m glad I can entrust her safety to you, but…watch out for yourself too, yeah?”

He nodded, but she somehow sensed that his own safety was much lower on his list of priorities.

“I’ll come for you if you don’t,” Laya warned, pointing at his nose.

The right corner of his mouth rose slightly. “I’ll be awaiting you.”

They gazed at each other for a few seconds, before Laya came forward and pulled him into a hug, keeping the torch safely out of reach. Link’s arms around her were warm and reassuring, and lifted her spirits somewhat. She leaned back and met his eyes. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.” Then he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and took a step back. “Be careful.”

“Thanks,” she said, cheeks a bit pinker than before. She gripped her torch with both hands. “You too.”

Their eyes locked for the last time, before he turned his back to her and left the misty woods via the path of fires.

Laya stood motionless until she could no longer see him, and then turned to the road ahead, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s find those Koroks.”

She didn’t really need a fire to know which way the wind blew, but it was nice to have a light. Without further hesitating she stepped into the mist, following the slow but noticeable breeze.

After a few minutes of silence, in which she only encountered a wild fox and some crows, the mist got thicker. Simultaneously, the woods seemed to darken significantly. She halted.

“Am I still going the right way?” she asked softly. She closed her eyes and let the soft breeze flow over her skin. Then she opened her eyes and looked at the burning torch. Yes, she was going in the right direction. She guessed she would just need to continue through this disheartening darkness and hope for the best.

But after continuing with steady speed, the mist suddenly lifted, and a pleasant, yellow light replaced it, beaming through the leaves above her. She sighed with relief and quickened her pace, passing through a hollow tree trunk.

The nature around her transformed completely, from dark and eerie to colorful and welcoming, while soft, uplifting music reached her ears. In her peripheral vision she spotted small creatures popping up and disappearing again when she neared. The new circumstances did wonders for her mood, and she hastened forward over a path of old stones, to the heart of the forest.

She gasped when she arrived.

The largest tree she had ever seen towered before her, its crown of bright pink petals spreading out over the clearing. The rest of Korok Forest, too, was absolutely beautiful: radiant green and yellow meeting her from every side, and sunrays ever falling through the branches above. Small Koroks in various shades of green and brown peeked from behind trees and through ferns to study her. Their faces were hidden behind leaf masks in all kinds of colors and shapes, their small pointy noses poking through tiny holes in the center.

“Wow,” she breathed.

In the exact middle of the space, in front of the giant tree, was a stone platform in the shape of a triangle. Laya looked at it with intrigued eyes, before returning her gaze to the tree—because it had just started talking to her.

“Welcome, Laya, magical being protected by the royal family.”

“Holy beetles!” Laya started, dropping her burning torch on the ground. Immediately three Koroks flopped themselves on top of it to extinguish the fire. “You're a talking tree!”

“I am indeed.” His voice was deep and seemed to fill the entire forest. It was extremely pleasant to listen to. “And very ancient as well. I look forward to housing you for a while.”

“T-thank you,” Laya said, still shaken up. “Who…who are you exactly?”

“I am called the Deku Tree, and I have watched over Hyrule for a very long time.”

“I see,” she whispered. No one had ever told her that the beautiful pink petals she used to see poking above the northern woods belonged to a live tree. She was plainly awestruck.

“Now,” the Deku Tree continued, “Chio here will explain to you all you need to know.”

A Korok slightly bigger than the ones she’d seen so far waggled to the platform. This one had a small mushroom on his head and a yellow leaf in front of his face, positioned in such a way that it looked as if he had a beard, or a very large moustache.

“Welcome to Korok Forest!” Chio spoke cheerfully. “Follow me to the center of the tree, if you will!”

Laya did so, and they entered the giant trunk via one of the Deku Tree’s immense roots. “You will sleep over here,” Chio said, pointing to a pretty bed laid out in one of the three hollow cavities. “You can get some food over there and over there, and can cook right here! Our cooks will also make meals every day, but if you want to eat something else, this is the place to create it. You may wander around as much as you want, but when you reach the edge of Korok Forest, the mists will close in on you and you will be brought back to us.” Chio hopped once. “That’s all you need to know. Enjoy your stay!” And he exited the tree.

Laya took off her backpack and placed it on one of the low mushrooms against the wall, before she flopped onto the bed and put her hands behind her head, gazing at the wooden ceiling. These circumstances were far from ideal, but she would do her best to make it all work. At least her new home was more beautiful than she could’ve ever imagined. Yet she hoped she wouldn’t have to stay here for long.

She closed her eyes, and quickly dozed off.

The next day, she woke up to the smell of cooked nuts. She got up, made her way over to the cooking pot and sat down next to the Koroks preparing breakfast. They handed her some of their meal, which was delicious.

The day turned out to be, despite her worries, quite interesting. The Koroks were energetic, happy creatures which mostly goofed around with each other. Chio appeared to be somewhat of a Korok Elder, as he mainly kept watch while the other Koroks played. Laya met Hestu, the biggest Korok of them all, who loved dancing more than life itself. She would constantly hear the rattling of his red maracas resonate over the clearing, and often found herself bouncing along to the beat. She even had an interesting conversation with the Great Deku Tree, which made her realize that he was indeed immensely old and probably knew more about Hyrule than he made it seem.

All in all, Laya managed to distract herself enough to not constantly think about her friends, some kilometers down at Hyrule Castle preparing for the incoming doom. Tomorrow was Zelda’s birthday, and Laya remembered that she still didn’t have a present. Something from the forest, perhaps?

~~~

The next day, she awoke to the heavy vibrations of an earthquake. The whole world rumbled under its strength, a roaring noise disturbing the air.

She quickly jumped out of bed and ran through the tree, out into the clearing. All Koroks were gathered there, staring in the direction of the southwest. Towards Hyrule Castle.

“What’s happening?!" she asked, slipping to a halt near the triangular platform.

“It appears the Calamity has struck,” the tree answered in a solemn voice. “The monster has escaped.”

She gasped and placed her hands over her mouth. “ _No_. Are you serious?!” She looked to the sky, but didn’t see anything. “Has Zelda awakened her power yet?!”

“She just returned from Mount Lanayru,” the Great Deku Tree spoke, “but it doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Oh no…” Sudden adrenaline surged through her body. She wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of here, find her friends and help them battle the monster, but thanks to Impa and Purah’s discovery she had no choice but to stay. It made her feel horribly powerless. She gazed up at the Deku Tree, eyes filled with fear. “Will they be alright?”

The tree replied after a few quiet seconds. “That remains to be seen.”

That answer was not at all consoling. For minutes she stood there, constantly asking the Deku Tree for updates, but unfortunately he fell silent at some point, not opening his mouth again. This only increased her fear, and she found herself pacing back and forth over the clearing for about a full hour. Eventually she went to her bed and sat there, waiting for news. Nothing came for the rest of the day, though she regularly felt inexplicable stabs of pain that were too sporadic to analyze.

The next morning, she realized it would be best to keep up her strength in case they needed her later. Though swallowing was not as easy as before, she managed to consume an entire meal and then headed back to the clearing. She asked the Great Deku Tree if he'd come to know more, but sadly enough he couldn’t tell her anything.

Throughout the day she practiced her combat, checked how well her magic was functioning and ate as healthily as possible to maintain her energy. Although those strange twinges kept returning, they became less frequent as the day progressed and she felt little need to pay them too much heed. If anything, she felt oddly powerful…but it was useless now.

Still she eventually exhausted herself with too much training, and nearing twilight she was so tired that she sauntered into the forest and flumped down on the ground, resting against a tree.

After an hour, something finally happened.

Everything was peaceful and quiet, until suddenly all Koroks jumped up and hurried to the center of the clearing. Laya slowly opened her eyes and soon realized there was news, so she jumped up and hastened after the creatures. As she ran, a familiar voice reached her ears.

“…deprive him of his memories, please trust me when I say that I know he will arrive before you yet again.”

Laya halted next to a tree and placed her hand against the trunk. It was Zelda, battered and dirty, but extremely alive. She was sitting on her knees on the triangular platform, her hands folded together as if in prayer, wearing the dress she always wore at the springs. Laya was so happy to see her that she prepared to run to her side—but then she noticed the sword in front of her knees and froze.

That was Link’s.

A cold fear stabbed her in the chest.

“If I may be so bold, what is it that you are planning to do next, Princess?” the Great Deku Tree asked her. Zelda looked up startled, as if she hadn’t expected him to address her. She quickly got up, then gazed thoughtfully at the sword lying at her feet.

“The Master Sword… I heard it speak to me.” She looked up at the tree again, determination flaming in her eyes. “It seems that my role is unfinished. There is still something I must do.”

“I sense there is great strength in your dedication,” the tree spoke.

“Great Deku Tree,” Zelda began. “I ask of you, when he returns, can you please relay this message.” She took a step forward. “Tell him I—”

“Now, then…” the tree interrupted her gently. “Words intended for him would sound much better in the tones of your voice, don’t you think?”

Those words brought a beautiful, hopeful smile to Zelda’s face. “Yes,” she said with a small nod. Then she kneeled, took up the sword, held it in front of her with the point downwards, closed her eyes, and after a few suspenseful seconds pushed it into the stone. A soft blue light appeared from within the steel, as if its magic had come to life. The sun rays falling through the leafy ceiling illuminated it gently, as if acknowledging its power.

Zelda looked at it for a few seconds, before turning away.

“Wait!” Laya spoke then, stepping into the clearing. Zelda quickly whirled around.

“There you are,” she said with a soft sigh. “I was wondering whether I’d see you.”

“What happened, Zelda? Where’s Link?” Worry swam in Laya’s eyes. “Is Ganon defeated?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid not.” She approached Laya but kept a small distance. “Laya, listen to me. Link is severely wounded and has been brought to the Shrine of Resurrection. While he heals, I must go to the castle and seal Ganon inside it. I cannot defeat him on my own; eventually Link will wake up, regain his strength and then come to my aid and vanquish him.”

“I…what? _Link_ was defeated?”

“The Calamity destroyed everything.” Zelda’s eyes darkened, and Laya immediately realized she had cried over this. “The castle, the town, the fields… He took control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts and turned them against us.”

Laya was too shocked to speak.

“Link was almost decimated by one of the Guardians when I suddenly managed to awaken my sealing power and save him. Then he collapsed… I ordered members of the Sheikah tribe to bring him to the shrine—eventually he will heal.”

“Oh my gosh,” Laya whispered. “So you awakened your power at last, that’s amazing. But…when will he wake up?”

“We don’t know,” Zelda responded ruefully. “It could take years, decades even.”

“And all that time, you will hold Ganon with your sealing power until Link returns?”

“It is what I must do.”

“Let me help you,” Laya said, taking a step closer. “There must be something I can do.”

“There isn’t, Laya, I’m so sorry.” Zelda looked at her with a strict expression. “You must stay away from the castle; it’s not safe. Leave Hyrule to find a better life…search for your past…but don’t wait for me and Link. Please. This is my last request to you.”

Laya didn’t understand. “But I can’t just…” Zelda turned to walk away. “No, Zelda! You can’t be serious about this! I don’t… I can’t just _leave_?!”

“There is a whole world out there, Laya,” Zelda told her, looking over her shoulder. “I will keep the Calamity at bay, so please, just stay safe.”

When she spotted the tears swimming in Laya’s eyes, she halted, turned around fully and approached her again. But she still wouldn’t touch her. “You must know I say this for your own safety. You are my most treasured friend, but Hyrule Castle is an extremely dangerous place right now. I don’t know whether your powers are strong enough to defeat the Guardians.” She shook her head again. “They almost took our lives. I almost lost Link. It will give me strength knowing that at least your life is saved.”

Laya discovered the deep loss that Zelda had been feeling during these few days, but her determination to fulfil her last task gave her so much strength that the sadness was hard to detect. “Zelda…I can’t just leave you there for years. How can you even ask that of me?”

“We don’t have a choice, Laya. This is the only way to save the kingdom. Please, you have to understand.”

“I understand, but…”

“Promise me, Laya. Promise me that you won’t approach Ganon.”

Laya had never wanted to _not_ make a promise this badly in her entire life, but Zelda was in a hurry and needed to seal Ganon away before things got worse.

“Yes, I promise,” Laya eventually gave in.

Zelda sighed with relief. “Thank you. I hope to see you again someday.”

And then she left the forest.

“So you think you’ll never see me again,” Laya said hoarsely. The new information was too much. She felt her brain slowly beginning to crumble.

“Laya,” she heard the Great Deku Tree behind her. “Are you alright?”

But she wasn’t. Link and Zelda were going to be away for _years_. The princess had even said it could be _decades_. How could she live on, knowing that Link and Zelda were stuck in a cycle of healing and protecting without anyone by their sides? How could she live on, trying to search for her past when the entire future of Hyrule was uncertain? When the lives of her friends were at stake?

“No…” she whispered. “No, I’m not.” She turned around to face the Deku Tree. The tears were dripping down her chin by now. “But she’s serious, isn’t she?”

“It would not be a bad idea to search for your past,” the Deku Tree told her. “You might meet some unexpected discoveries.”

“Why does everyone expect me to keep on living when my best friends are in mortal peril?!” Laya burst out. The anger, worry, sadness and loss were reaching a peak. It felt as if the ground beneath her feet had started trembling. “How can I try to find any interest in my own life when the two people who gave it most meaning are gone?!”

Her voice had changed. It had become a deep, booming, almost ancient voice, that seemed to rise from deep beneath the earth instead of the small body she inhabited.

Her eyes, too, didn’t look the same anymore. They were furious and shimmering, a deep magic surging through their irises and changing their color one by one.

“ _I will NOT live without them!_ ”

Suddenly two huge wings spouted from her back, spreading out like two large flower petals. Surrendered to an ancient power she had never felt before, urged by her distress and pain, she flew up, placed herself on one of the highest branches of the Deku Tree, wrapped her giant wings around her body, and forced herself into a deep, dark slumber.

A hundred years later, a young man woke up in a bath of healing water. At the same time, a young woman kilometers further up north opened her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D Let the game begin!


	5. Memory Loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically Link's adventures on the Great Plateau at the start of the game. For those who know the game well this chapter might be a bit boring ;-; but because it contains information that's important for the rest of the story I decided to write it anyway. Hope you enjoy nonetheless!

_Link… Open your eyes…_

The female voice came from far away and was hardly audible, but with every word it became clearer.

_Open your eyes…_

His senses were slowly activated. There was a light visible behind his closed eyelids; the sound of the voice grew louder…

_Open your eyes…_

His body was enveloped in a soothing fluid, as if he was lying in a warm bath.

_Wake up, Link._

And he did so.

The first thing he saw were strange shapes with several blue bulbs. As his vision cleared, he could feel the fluid drain away from what he was lying in. He blinked a few times, sat up slowly and looked at his surroundings.

He was in a small basin in a dark room, which was only illuminated by orange orbs in the walls and the light blue veins on the giant machine that hung over him. He crawled out of his tub, stood up straight and noticed a small pedestal with two connecting blue circles a few meters away from him.

His mind felt a bit hazy, as if he’d been sleeping for years, yet his body felt healthy and revived. He looked down at his arms and torso, and spotted a range of scars on his skin, each of a different size. He wondered where those had come from. And where his clothes had gone.

Now that he thought about it: he couldn’t remember anything. Neither who he was or when he’d entered this chamber, nor how he’d ended up in that warm bath and who the person was that had woken him up.

Despite not having a clue what he was doing here, he walked up to the pedestal which, after noticing his presence, made a soft sound and came to life. The inner blue circle rose up, turned 90 degrees and presented him with a rectangular object.

The female voice addressed him again.

_That is a Sheikah Slate. Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber._

He took the device, and the screen in the middle lit up at the touch. It displayed a drawing of an eye with three triangular eyelashes above it and a long, single tear underneath. A mysterious tablet with a flowing center.

Although he had never seen it before, there was something familiar about it. He studied it shortly, while the circles returned to their former state. A low rumble followed, announcing the opening of a large stone door in the wall behind the pedestal, and he passed through it as soon as there was enough space to do so.

He arrived in a low chamber, illuminated by six blue, mechanical torches. It contained a few wooden boxes, a couple of broken barrels and two chests, in which he found an old shirt and a pair of well-worn pants, accompanied by two old leather shoes. Both the sleeves of the shirt and the legs of the pants were a bit too short for his physique; yet he put them on swiftly, clicked the Sheikah Slate on his belt and continued down a small slope to reach the end of the room, where another pedestal lit up with an orange circle.

 _Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal,_ the voice told him. _That will show you the way._

He took the slate and did as she’d instructed. The orange circle turned blue and a robotic voice announced, “Authenticating… Sheikah Slate confirmed.”

Another rumble resounded, louder this time, and the symbol of that same eye lit up in the middle of a giant door next to the pedestal. The door opened in bars of ancient material, after which clear rays of daylight fell into the room. Link approached the opening.

_Link… You are the light—our light—that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now, go…_

He ran up the stairs, splashed through a small puddle, scaled a low wall, ascended some more stairs and reached the end of the dwelling he’d been sleeping in.

He was greeted by a bright light, the sound of chirping birds, tall green grass, high pine trees and the wonderful smell of spring. He ran further into this new world, and halted on the edge of a plateau.

The most wonderful view was spread out before him. He could see miles into the distance and was met with a gorgeous landscape: woods, plains, hills, and far off an active volcano. Somewhere in the middle stood the dark silhouette of a tall castle, surrounded by columns.

He turned to his right to get a clearer view of where he was and discovered the remains of some sort of stone temple. More notable than that, however, was the figure of a man looking at him. His long white beard, ragged brown hood and walking stick with lantern gave his old age away. As soon as he noticed Link’s gaze, he turned around and strode to a small fire in a cavity in the stone.

Link’s survival instincts told him to collect as many items as he could before commencing his journey. He explored the few square meters around him and found several Hylian mushrooms, two bladed rhino beetles and a bunch of branches fallen off the trees. He took every item with him, before continuing down the slope over a path of ancient stone steps, almost completely overgrown with bright green grass. He picked two apples from a tree beside the path and arrived at the man’s fire. There he spotted a baked apple by his feet and, assuming it had fallen off the branches and rolled to flames, took it eagerly.

“I BEG YOUR PARDON!” the old man boomed with a loud, deep voice. “I do believe that is my baked apple! You can’t just go about taking whatever you please!” Link jumped and prepared to return the fruit, when the man suddenly laughed. “Oho ho! Forgive me—I could not resist pulling your leg! Please help yourself. An apple and an open flame make for a succulent treat. It is a bit strange to see another soul in these parts.”

“Who are you?” Link asked curiously, clenching the warm apple between his hands.

“Me? I’ll spare you my life story. I’m just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now. What brings a bright-eyed young man like you to a place like this?”

Link had absolutely no idea. “Where are we?”

“Answering a question with a question. That is fair enough. As I cannot imagine our meeting to be a simple coincidence…” There was an intriguing twinkle visible in his shadowed face. “I shall tell you. This is the Great Plateau. According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule.” The man got up, turned around and gestured to the old building with his staff. “That temple there… Long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom 100 years ago, it has sat abandoned, in a state of decay.” He turned back to look at Link, resting one hand on top of his stick. “Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self…” And he sat back down next to the fire.

Since the man seemed to be the only other person in this area besides Link, the boy decided to ask some more. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m relaxing by the fireside, of course. Although I’ll need to cook myself another baked apple at some point… Simple foods such as apples are fine to eat raw, but roasting them on a fire makes them tastier and more nutritious. I shall be here some time. Please let me know if I may be of service.”

Feeling that the conversation was over, he nodded and went on his way. Though he halted when he spotted a torch against the wall behind the man and took it.

“Well then,” the stranger said, turning around, “just help yourself to that torch there. And how, may I ask, are you planning to use it?”

Link took it in both hands. “To set things on fire!”

The man grunted. “That is rather…unnerving. Please be cautious with that around any dry grass that might catch fire. You know, there are plenty of monsters in this area. That torch would make a good weapon, if need be. However, do not just swing it around without purpose. You must face your opponents and lock your sights on them!”

And as the man returned to his fire, poking it with his walking stick, Link got back to his route and continued over the old road.

A bit further down he came across a cold campfire and a woodcutter’s axe stuck in a tree stump. He pulled the axe free and took it with him.

When he reached a small stone plateau, he heard the voice again.

_Link… Link… Head for the point marked on the map in your Sheikah Slate._

He took the slate from his hip and activated it. There was a map, but no clear features of the landscape. A little arrow represented his own location, while, some ways further northeast from his position, a yellow point indicated the place where the voice wanted him to go. West from him, closer than the yellow dot, was a blue point which, according to the map, was called the Shrine of Resurrection. The place where he’d woken up.

He attached the slate to his belt and gazed to his right, finding a grassy protrusion pointing towards the temple. He ascended it curiously and found a small lake below, with two green islands rising from the water. There was a sword stuck in a stone on top of the biggest island and, unable to resist the urge to get it and add it to his weapon collection, he jumped headfirst into the waves.

When his head breached the surface, a strange creature was hanging over him, flying with a rotating plant. It was a small, grey thing, with a long green leaf for a face.

“Ya-ha-ha!” it laughed. “You found me!” Then it made an annoyed sound. “Huh? You’re not Hestu! But you can…see me? I didn’t know your kind could see the children of the forest! Well, if you run into Hestu, please return this to him.” And it handed over a small, golden object. It was a Korok seed, and it had a distinct smell. “Oh, and my friends are hiding in lots of different places too! Don’t be shy about poking your nose into suspicious places!”

Treading water, Link stared at the creature for some seconds before taking off and swimming to the island in the center of the lake, with the rattling sound of the Korok still in his ears. Upon his arrival he clambered to the top and pulled the rusty broadsword from the stone, taking it with him.

Despite his curiosity to the old temple, which was now very close by, he desired to check out the yellow point on his map first. Thus he jumped into the water, swam back to the shore and returned to the plateau on which he’d received the voice’s instructions.

He moved further down, a row of trees on his left and patches of grass and wheat on his right. After descending a couple of meters, there came a rustling sound from between the trees and he looked up.

Right at that moment a red, man-sized creature jumped from the grass and swung at him with a tree branch. Link started but dodged skillfully, took one of his own branches and accepted the fight. His stick broke quickly, but he swiftly equipped a new one and fought the monster until it vanished into thin air.

For a few seconds he stood surprised at the sudden disappearance of his enemy, but then he took the weapon and the body parts which the creature had left behind and added them to his inventory.

Rather confused about the fact that he’d performed combat moves he didn’t remember ever having learned, he continued his journey down the slope until he reached a small square at the bottom, where he halted at a destroyed fountain. He looked over his right shoulder to the south, and gazed upon the various staircases which led to the temple above. From here he could see how truly old and decayed the building was: parts of the eastern walls had been broken off, high windows were smashed to pieces and vines covered the exterior all the way to the lowest tower. The houses which stood between him and the temple were all roofless and ruined. Another red Bokoblin was lurking between the debris, and he turned his back to it.

Passing the fountain and heading northeast, he spotted two large boulders on the edge of the square and curiously walked up to them. He peered over the brink and spotted two Bokoblins in a cavity down below, chatting it up. Link assumed the monster from earlier wasn’t the only Bokoblin out for his life, so he thought it best to get rid of them before they came after him instead. He took place behind one of the boulders and with immense strength pushed it over the edge. The rock instantly crushed one of the two, but since the other had managed to escape (and apparently wasn’t very vexed after that sudden murder attempt, because it sat down in the exact same position as before), Link pushed the other boulder as well and defeated the second one too. He dropped himself into the pit to check his bounty, and found two Boko clubs and two Bokoblin horns. For some reason he couldn’t bring more weapons than he was carrying now, so he dropped one of the fragile tree branches and took the two clubs with him.

He climbed up the wall again, unwilling to leave his original path. From the broken fountain he headed east and ran down the next slope, soon arriving at a broad flight of stairs framed by low, broken walls of stone. Reaching the bottom, he found himself on a stone plain with broken pillars and chunks of debris everywhere. Right in front of him the road had sunk in, and he stepped forward for a closer look.

It appeared he had arrived at the original entrance to the Great Plateau: the ancient stairs ran down into a flooded area, behind which he could see the top of an archway. The entrance had been blocked by something, and now the exit was inaccessible. Strange, large metal objects were lying about the place, some partly sunk and others stuck on land.

He felt a shiver run down his spine. This was an empty and broken land, which had clearly been flourishing once. Now it was abandoned and quiet. If only he could remember what had happened, maybe he would understand how this place had become like this…

It was a sense of loss that he wasn’t familiar with. Turning his back to the water, he returned to the plain and headed southeast, to the yellow point. He was getting close now.

But he halted when he arrived at a set of small pools filled with frogs. Three red Bokoblins were guarding the place, two somewhat higher on the hill and one on the ground. It would probably be best to take them all out so he could get to his destination without much trouble.

He turned right and took his branch off his back, approaching the two Bokoblins on the hill in a wide circle. They spotted him as he ran, and before he knew it, a shower of arrows whizzed past him.

He could have approached them more discreetly, he thought with light annoyance as he dodged the arrows and sprinted to the hill. Once he was in front of the monsters, he whacked them with branch after branch and prevented them from getting another clean shot at him. Once he’d thrown the Bokoblins off the hill and they’d dissolved into nothingness, he took the items left behind and delighted himself with two Boko bows and a bunch of arrows.

Now he turned to the third monster, which was positioned right in front of his goal. Taking his new bow and an arrow, he shuffled closer, aimed, and hit the Bokoblin right in its head, destroying it instantly. This enemy left behind a Boko shield and a traveler’s sword.

He gazed up, to the large boulders surrounding the space. Within the small cavity was an ancient-looking structure, partly buried under the stones. He approached slowly and scrambled over a bunch of rocks, arriving at another one of those Sheikah pedestals. He looked about himself, but couldn’t make sense of what exactly he was standing in. The pedestal was placed on a sort of platform made of an unknown material, while above it hung some kind of stalactite, kept up by three pillars rising from the floor.

Before deciding what to do next, an unknown voice that seemed to come from the structure itself instructed him: “Place the Sheikah Slate in the pedestal.”

He leaned in for a closer look, before taking the slate and putting it in the rectangular space in the center. The circle, glowing a soft orange light, took the slate, placed it within itself, turned and sank into the pedestal.

The voice spoke again: “Sheikah Tower activated. Please watch for falling rocks.”

The world around him began to tremble like an earthquake. He couldn’t keep his footing and lost his balance, falling on his back as the rocky wall in which half of the structure was buried cracked and crumbled. Suddenly the whole land seemed to listen anxiously, waiting for what was going to happen.

After several seconds of dangerous rumbling, the platform broke free from its stony confinements and spouted towards the sky. Big boulders tumbled from the structure as it grew taller and taller—until it stopped.

It was a huge tower.

A wave of blue mist rose from the bottom and crawled over the stem, until it reached the top of the structure. A circle behind him lit up with a blue light.

Feeling that the coast was finally clear, Link carefully got up and gazed around. The buried structure had been the wide top of the tower. He could now see the six pillars that held up the stalactite, and there were three holes in the platform, two of which were still blocked by rocks. He was incredibly high up; the view was stunning.

“Great Plateau Tower,” came a voice from within the slate.

“Distilling local information…” said the pedestal.

The stalactite came to life. Ancient letters flowed down to the tip, where a blue eye lit up. A dot of light appeared underneath it, which grew into the shape of a shimmering tear and soon fell down on top of the slate, creating blue sparkles that nearly hit Link. Once the sparks had dissolved, he leaned in again, curious as always.

The Sheikah Slate activated itself and displayed the map he’d opened before. This time, however, a wave from within revealed a great piece of the landscape. He could finally see the area in which he’d arrived, including the shrine he’d woken up in. He saw water, woods, mountains, grassy fields and several structures of buildings. It was only a small portion of the entire map, but nonetheless a pleasant revelation.

“Regional map extracted,” the robotic voice said.

Link gratefully took the slate from the pedestal and hung it on his belt. Just as he was planning to walk away and find his way down, he suddenly heard that voice again.

_Remember…_

He halted and turned. There was a small light glinting in the castle in the distance. That must be where the voice had been coming from all along.

_Try… Try to remember…_

He ran to the edge of the platform and listened.

_You have been asleep for the past 100 years._

The ground rumbled again, and Link set his feet sternly on the ground to keep his footing. His eyebrows knit together and he watched with unease as black and purple shadows appeared from underneath the castle’s fundaments.

_The beast… When the beast regains its true power, this world will face its end._

The shadows twisted and twirled until they took the shape of a giant, hideous monster, slowly encircling the castle’s main tower. It roared in anger as its yellow eyes lit up.

Then the bright light grew incredibly strong, and the dark beast dissolved, sinking back into the castle. The voice became urging.

_Now then… You must hurry… Before it’s too late…_

The light disappeared, and the voice fell quiet. Link stood there in silence, blinking as he tried to take in the new information. _100 years._ That was an awfully long time. He needed to get to that castle and help the owner of the voice as quickly as possible.

So he resumed his search for a way down. One of the three holes wasn’t clogged by rocks, and he lowered himself into the opening and clambered down via the tower’s stem. He noticed that his stamina wasn’t that good, so decided to jump via the small platforms attached to the sides. A soft but beautiful melody seemed to come from within the tower, and it made him feel safe and at peace.

When he was back on the ground, there was another voice. “Hoooo!”

Link looked about himself to see where it was coming from, until he spotted the old man flying towards him, hanging onto some kind of kite. He landed nearby and folded the kite away.

“My my… It would seem we have quite the enigma here,” he spoke, leaning on his stick. “This tower and several others just like it have erupted across the land, one after another. It is almost as though…a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly. If you do not mind me asking… Did anything…odd occur while you were atop that tower?”

“I heard a voice,” Link confessed.

“Well now! A voice you say? And did you happen to recognize this mysterious voice?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“I see. Well, that is unfortunate.” The old man turned to the north and pointed into the distance with his staff. “I assume you caught sight of that atrocity enshrouding the castle. That…is Calamity Ganon. One hundred years ago, that vile entity brought the kingdom of Hyrule to ruin. It appeared suddenly and destroyed everything in its path. So many innocent lives were lost in its wake. For a century, the very symbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain that evil. But just barely. There it festers, building its strength for the moment it will unleash its blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is fast approaching…”

A short silence fell. The old man looked at Link.

“I must ask you, courageous one… Do you intend to make your way to the castle?”

Link responded with a nod. “I do.”

The man laughed. “I had a feeling you would say that. Here, on this isolated plateau, we are surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs, with no way down. If you were to try and jump off, well…no death could be more certain. Or more foolish. Of course, if you had a paraglider like mine, that would be quite another story.”

Link pricked up his ears. “Paraglider?”

“Oho! Piqued your interest, have I? Yes, I didn’t come soaring down here on my own feathery wings, you know! Worry not—I will happily agree to give you my paraglider. But not for nothing. Let’s see now… How about I trade it for a bit of treasure that slumbers nearby?”

Link stared at him in confusion.

“Come. Let me show you something.” The old man walked off. Link followed him up a small rocky hill, where they halted. “Do you see that structure there? The one shining with a strange light? It began glowing at the exact moment those towers rose up from the ground.”

It was a small construction. It seemed some kind of entrance with no building behind it. The opening and its fundaments were swarming with orange-glowing veins, but its tall flat roof was dark.

“I would think such a place might house some sort of treasure, wouldn’t you? Treasure for the paraglider. A fair exchange, I believe.”

A little annoyed by this, Link ran off to the structure, circling the flooded entrance of the plateau.

Once he arrived, the Sheikah Slate announced, “Oman Au Shrine.” He held the slate against the pedestal next to the opening—“Sheikah Slate confirmed”—and a circle on the shrine’s platform lit up with a blue light. “Travel Gate registered to map,” the pedestal said. “Access granted.” And the door of the building rolled out of view. Link stepped on the round circle which had revealed itself, which soon after sunk into the floor.

The shrine appeared to hold a trial, presented by a person called Oman Au. At the start of the trial, the Sheikah Slate revealed its function of runes, the first one being the rune of Magnesis, with which he could move metallic objects. The shrine’s challenge required him to use the rune in order to reach the end, where the challenger was seated in a large, box-like construction of blue light. He was an ancient monk, emaciated, as if he’d been there for thousands of years. His forehead contained a white painting of the eye with the tear.

Oman Au introduced himself as the creator of the trial, a humble monk blessed with the sight of Goddess Hylia and dedicated to helping those intending to defeat Ganon. With Link’s arrival, his duty was now fulfilled, and in the name of Hylia he rewarded Link with a Spirit Orb. Once the orb had entered Link’s chest, the monk vanished in turquoise flakes, leaving the altar empty.

Link exited the shrine and promptly received another visit from the old man. Gliding with the paraglider, he landed in front of Link.

“It seems you managed to get your hands on a Spirit Orb. Well done!”

Link blinked. “How did you know?!”

“Clairvoyance!” he said loudly. “Oho, or perhaps just something similar. As one gets older, it can become more difficult to see what is right before one’s own eyes… However, that which was once hidden from view can often be crystal clear. But perhaps that is not true for everyone! Oho ho! The appearance of those towers and the awakening of this shrine… It is all connected to that Sheikah Slate you carry on your hip there.”

“What do you mean?” Link asked.

“It has been quite some time since I have seen that Sheikah Slate… Long ago, a highly advanced tribe known as the Sheikah inhabited these lands. The great power of their wisdom saved this kingdom time and time again. But their ancient technology disappeared long ago… Or so it is said. It is interesting, however, to think…how something like that survived all this time, hidden away in a shrine. These shrines are tucked away in numerous places all across this land. On this plateau alone, I believe there are still three more.”

Indeed, in order to receive the paraglider, Link had to travel to all three of them and complete the trials. The old man also informed him that the blue spots on the map could be traveled to with the help of the Sheikah Slate, so he could teleport to towers and shrines in a heartbeat.

Grateful for the useful information but annoyed by his prolonged mission, Link opened some chests and broke some metal boxes using his Magnesis Rune, and set off to find the other shrines.

He could see them all from the top of the Great Plateau Tower: one not too far away below him, within the debris of some broken buildings; another far off to the south, on a plateau past the temple, and the third in the west, on top of one of the snowy mountains. He jumped back down again and headed to the buildings in the southeast part of the plateau.

He found the second shrine in the remnants of what seemed to be an old abbey. The place was filled with those strange metal objects, some with legs and others without. Before he reached the shrine, one of them suddenly came to life, lights flickering pink. Link stood frozen in amazement as its upper part turned itself in different directions, until it spotted him. Its single eye aimed a red light right at his chest.

That’s when he realised that this machine wasn’t on his side. He rolled himself out of the way only a second before a blue laser beam was shot from the eye. It crashed against the wall and whirled the stones and the grass below in fire.

Link pressed himself against the abbey’s wall and peeked around the corner. The metallic monster turned creepily, as if it was still searching for him. How was he going to reach the shrine with this horrible creature standing guard?

He moved along the wall until he saw the flat roof of the shrine sticking above it. He latched onto the stone, climbed up and jumped over it, reaching the Ja Baij Shrine, according to the slate. This shrine awakened the rune of Remote Bombs, cubic and round bombs, which he again needed to complete this shrine’s trial.

Evading the scary monster, Link hopped over the remains of the abbey and continued his way to the south of the Great Plateau, where he had spotted another shrine. After beating more Bokoblins and finding several new items, he reached a small wooden hut, which turned out to be the abode of the old man. The man himself was chopping wood a few meters away, so Link decided to take a peek inside his home and see what he could find: a mushroom, another baked apple, some peppers—and the old man’s diary. It contained a description of a recipe, that of “spicy meat and seafood fry,” which consisted of raw meat, spicy pepper and an ingredient the old man had apparently forgotten. The person who would give him the missing ingredient would receive his warm doublet. Link thought that the doublet might come in handy when searching for that shrine up in the mountains, so he should probably seek that last ingredient soon. He could more or less guess from the recipe’s name what that should be.

After chatting it up with the old man about wood and recipes, Link headed further to the south, where he needed to chop down a tree in order to reach the other side of a steep chasm. There he defeated two more Bokoblins, before scrambling up the high wall leading to the shrine.

The third shrine, the Owa Daim Shrine, gave him the rune of Stasis, with which he could halt objects or launch them a great distance.

Before heading to the mountains, he wanted to find the last ingredient. Though he didn’t have any raw meat yet either. After checking his map, he decided to head for the Forest of Spirits, where he hoped to find some. He teleported to the Oman Au Shrine, fished for a Hyrule bass in the waters near the Great Plateau Tower and, in the orange light of twilight, ran into the woods.

Not long after entering the forest and discovering another Korok, he found the old man sitting near a cooking pot. How was that guy everywhere?

He skipped talking to the man for now and stepped further through the forest. Upon spotting a wild boar, he took his bow and aimed at it. After two arrows he’d killed the beast and retrieved two pieces of raw meat. He returned to the fire and, in good hope, cooked a spicy pepper and raw meat to create spicy pepper steak. Then he addressed the old man, showing him his meal.

The man laughed and complimented him, sort of. “Not bad. Certainly not good…but not bad either. In case you were wondering, I know you were poking around in my diary. That said, if you do end up figuring out how to create that dish I wrote about, my warm doublet is all yours.”

Link nodded, took his second raw meat, a spicy pepper and a Hyrule bass and threw them into the cooking pot. And indeed, out came the spicy meat and seafood fry. After presenting it in front of the old man, who was delighted that Link had figured out his recipe, he was rewarded with the warm doublet.

“Now, why don’t we share your delicacy by the fireside together? It’s getting late,” the old man said. Link raised his eyes to the darkening sky and the appearing stars, and decided it wouldn’t hurt to save the fourth shrine for tomorrow. He nestled himself next to the warm fire and accepted the food.

Link tried to get more information from the old man, but he kept replying with awfully cryptic answers. In return, the old man tried to poke Link’s memory, but to no avail. Link didn’t remember a thing, but he also didn’t remember whether that was something he should be sad about. His whole past was a mystery.

Eventually the old man got up. “Now then. Time for bed. You know, firesides are suitable spaces to spend the night; the dark hours can bring lots of devilry that won’t come out during the day, and the flames will keep you safe. I suggest you have a good rest before continuing your quest. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.”

And he slowly exited the woods.

Link moved to the spot below the tree which the man had just left and leaned with his back against the trunk. As he stared at the flames and tried to think about things to think about, his eyes grew heavier by the second. Eventually he nodded off, and slept for a good eight hours.

The next morning, on his way to the last shrine, he explored the forest for a little. He found some Koroks, defeated an enemy camp, obtained some more raw meat and mushrooms—and stood suddenly face to face with a giant stone monster. After attempting to beat it for a few minutes and almost getting crushed by a large boulder, he decided to bail. Fleeing the clearing, he stumbled upon more Bokoblins and, after defeating them, made his way up a hill on the west side of the Great Plateau. He beat another Bokoblin camp built around a tree, used the Magnesis Rune to create a bridge over the ice cold River of the Dead and, wearing the useful warm doublet, ascended the snowy mountain to the Keh Namut Shrine. There he received the rune of Cryonis, with which he could create large columns of ice on any surface that contained water.

After completing the last trial, he was visited once more by the old man, who gave him strange instructions: to meet him at the place where the lines of the four connected shrines intersected.

Then he vanished in flames of turquoise.

Slightly shocked after that display, Link took his Sheikah Slate and checked the shrines and the intersecting lines, which joined on the abandoned temple. He decided to travel to the Shrine of Resurrection and head to the temple from there. After reappearing in the cave, Link ran outside, past the place where he’d met the mysterious old man—the fire was now cold and empty, but the baked apple was back—and down the overgrown steps he’d walked yesterday. When he reached the broken fountain, he took the many stairs leading towards the temple.

He visited every empty room he came across on the way up, beating Bokoblins and destroying barrels in the process. In the second roofless chamber he found a chest which contained a pair of Hylian trousers. He wished he’d found this piece of clothing sooner; he still mourned his frozen ankles. He exchanged the worn-out pants for these new ones and continued towards the temple. More of those scary, metallic monsters were lying about the place, but none of them came to life.

When he reached one of the higher areas and a wide chamber right in front of the main building (still roofless), the Sheikah Slate announced that he had arrived at the Temple of Time. After circling this chamber and ascending the last part of the way, passing a group of metallic monsters, he arrived at the entrance of the temple and halted. It was the most beautiful, but also the most sorrowful building he’d seen so far. Its stone walls were overgrown with moss and ivy, testifying how nobody had been taking care of it over the past few years. A huge part of the left wall had collapsed, revealing the early-afternoon sky outside. The grassy stones of the floor were covered with pieces of debris and old pots, unused and abandoned.

It looked like a place with a history as old as the world itself.

At the end of the lengthy space stood a huge statue, illuminated by rays of light that seemed to come from within the sculpture itself. As he approached it, the rays faded somewhat and revealed the figure of a stone woman, with hands folded in front of her chest and round wings on her back. He climbed the stairs leading to the dais she was placed on, taking note of the six smaller statues surrounding her, and heard an inner voice telling him it would be respectful to pray.

As soon as he prepared to do so, large beams of light fell through the ceiling and illuminated the statue. To his surprise, she addressed him:

“You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their Spirit Orbs. I can offer you great power. It appears you have claimed four Spirit Orbs. In exchange for four Spirit Orbs, I will amplify your being. So tell me what it is that you desire. A Heart Container, or a Stamina Vessel?”

He thought about that for a minute. His low stamina annoyed him horribly; he’d lost count of how many times he’d run out of breath. Yet it would also be useful to have more strength in case he was to fight more monsters in the future. He eventually chose the first option.

“I shall grant the power you seek.”

Out of thin air appeared a big, beautiful heart, of a deep red colour with golden lines across the smooth surface. It gently floated to Link and presented itself before him. He accepted it gratefully, and felt his health improve.

“Go, and bring peace to Hyrule…” the statue spoke, and the beams disappeared, informing him that the time for prayer was over.

“Hoooo!”

Link quickly whirled around, searched about the room and eventually spotted the old man standing on the roof of the temple, looking down through the half-torn ceiling.

“The blessing of the Goddess has made you that much more resilient, I see… Here I am… Get up here—quickly!” He walked out of view, those same turquoise flames flowing after him.

Link left the temple via the broken side and discovered a long ladder attached to the outer wall. He climbed up swiftly and found the old man waiting in the highest tower. He approached carefully.

The old man laughed when Link arrived. “Well done there, young one! Now then…the time has come to show you who I truly am.” He looked Link in the eyes, that same twinkle Link had spotted yesterday glimmering within the shadow of his hood. “I was King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. I was… the last leader of Hyrule. A kingdom which no longer exists.”

A flash of light followed, and Link turned away to protect his eyes against the intensity. When he gazed over his arm, the old man had transformed. Before him stood a majestic person, with long white hair and a beard, with kingly clothes and an even kinglier crown. He was much larger than the old man he had personified over the past two days, and turquoise flames whirled around his body.

“The Great Calamity was merciless…” the king spoke. “It devastated everything in its path, lo, a century ago. It was then that my life was taken away from me. And since that time, here I have remained, in spirit form.” Floating about ten centimeters above the ground, King Rhoam turned around to look at the castle in the distance. “I did not think it wise to overwhelm you while your memory was still fragile. So rather than that, I thought it best to assume a temporary form.” He turned to the side to look at Link from the corner of his eye. “Forgive me,” he said with a slight nod. “I think you are now ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago.

To know Calamity Ganon’s true form, one must know the story from an age long past. The demon king was born into this kingdom, but his transformation into malice created the horror you see now. Stories of Ganon were passed from generation to generation in the form of legends and fairy tales. But there was also…a prophecy.

‘The signs of a resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear. And the power to oppose it lies dormant beneath the ground.’

We decided to heed the prophecy and began excavating large areas of land. It wasn’t long before we discovered several ancient relics made by the hands of our distant ancestors. These relics, the Divine Beasts, were giant machines piloted by warriors. We also found the Guardians, an army of mechanical soldiers who fought autonomously. This coincided with ancient legends, oft repeated throughout our land. We also learned of a princess with a sacred power and her appointed knight, chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. It was they who sealed Ganon away using the power of these ancient relics. One hundred years ago, there was a princess set to inherit the sacred power and a skilled knight at her side. It was clear that we must follow our ancestors’ path. We selected four skilled individuals from across Hyrule and tasked them with the duty of piloting the Divine Beasts. With the princess as their commander, we dubbed these pilots Champions—a name that would solidify their unique bond. The princess, her appointed knight and the rest of the Champions were on the brink of sealing away Ganon…

But nay… Ganon was cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining. He appeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, and turned them against us. The Champions lost their lives. Those residing in the castle as well. The appointed knight, gravely wounded, collapsed while defending the princess… And thus, the kingdom of Hyrule was devastated absolutely by Calamity Ganon.

However… The princess survived…to face Ganon alone.”

Link's eyes widened.

“That princess was my own daughter… My dear Zelda. And the courageous knight who protected her right up to the very end…” King Rhoam turned around and looked at Link. “That knight was none other than you, Link. You fought valiantly when your fate took an unfortunate turn. And then, you were taken to the Shrine of Resurrection. Here you now stand, revitalized, 100 years later. The words of guidance you have been hearing since your awakening are from Princess Zelda herself. Even now, as she works to restrain Ganon from within Hyrule Castle, she calls out for your help.

However, my daughter’s power will soon be exhausted. Once that happens, Ganon will freely regenerate himself and nothing will stop him from consuming our land. Considering that I could not save my own kingdom, I have no right to ask this of you Link…” King Rhoam’s eyes lowered, and he formed a fist with his hand. “But I am powerless here…” When his gaze returned to the boy, his eyes were full of sorrow. “You must save her…my daughter. And do whatever it takes to annihilate Ganon.” He looked outside, towards the castle. “Somehow, Ganon has maintained control over all four Divine Beasts, as well as those Guardians swarming around Hyrule Castle.” Turning his back to Link fully, he gazed over his lost kingdom. “I believe it would be quite reckless for you to head directly to the castle at this point. I suggest…” he continued, looking back at the knight, “that you make your way east, out to one of the villages in the wilderness.”

Link approached slowly, so that he could see what King Rhoam was talking about.

The king pointed into the distance. “Follow the road out to Kakariko Village. There you will find the elder, Impa. She will tell you more about the path that lies ahead. Consult the map on your Sheikah Slate for the precise location of Kakariko Village. Make your way past the twin summits of the Dueling Peaks. From there, follow the road as it proceeds north…” He lowered his hand and looked down at Link. “Go on… Here is the paraglider, just as I promised.” Link accepted the item with both hands. “With that, you should be able to safely fly off the cliffs surrounding this area. And…I think that’s it. I’ve told you everything I can…”

Suddenly, the king’s features became less clear. He spoke again, but his voice sounded like it came from far away.

“Link… You must save…Hyrule…” And then he was gone, the little flames burning for a few seconds before dying out.

Blinking wildly, Link stood in silence for a while before noticing the treasure chest close by. He opened it and found a soldier’s bow, which he added to his inventory. Then he gazed out of the tower onto the Great Plateau.

So he would have to travel throughout Hyrule to free the Divine Beasts of Calamity Ganon’s grasp and get them to help him and Princess Zelda, the person who had been speaking to him from the moment he woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection, which he was put in because he was defeated on the battlefield defending her. It was weird how he had apparently witnessed intense and perhaps gruesome events, and had no recollection of them. He didn’t even remember Princess Zelda, even though she had begged him to try.

He gazed to the horizon. This was going to be a long journey. And probably a lonely one, too.

He took the paraglider, approached the edge of the tower and jumped. Slowly, he glided away from the temple and neared the entrance of the Great Plateau. Via the battlements built there, he jumped again and flew towards the ground, entering Hyrule Kingdom.

His sense of adventure kicked in, and he ran into the Forest of Time.


	6. Meeting

Both her heart and her head were pounding like never before. Her body felt hot, wrapped in a tight, pleasant material. She knew nothing: not who she was, not where she was, nor for how long she had been asleep or why she was waking up now.

She opened her eyes, and saw nothing but the dark cocoon that surrounded her.

 _Please leave_ , she ordered mentally, and the cocoon split open in two halves that folded themselves away from her. She then realized that she had been enwrapped by two large wings, that were stuck to her own back.

She studied them with eyes full amazement. They were huge and beautiful, filled with colors flowing in slow waves through the semi-transparent surface, that was covered by a net of thin, golden veins.

Delighted by this discovery, she turned her eyes to her revealed surroundings—but there was not much to see besides the beautiful pink petals of a blossoming tree. She was positioned on one of the tree’s huge branches, and she peeked over the edge to the ground. She was in some kind of forest, but there were no living things to be seen in the glade below.

Was she alone, in this magical place? Was this…her home?

She somehow doubted it, since she was practically burning with a desire to get out of here.

She wondered whether the wings on her back would allow her to fly. Testing the possibility, she flapped them once, twice, and then slowly ascended until she passed through the broad pink roof and rose above the forest. There she halted and inhaled slowly, feeling wonderfully free.

Then she gazed at the world around her. She saw a gorgeous landscape, full of plains, meadows and forests. Behind her gaped a giant canyon, on her left steamed an active volcano, and to her right were green hills and snowy mountains beyond.

A little to the southwest was a beautiful, pointy building, with several columns rising from the ground and leaning towards it. It was dark and quiet, as if it had been abandoned a long time ago.

Her eyes lowered to the giant pink tree she’d woken up in. Surrounding the cloud of petals were dim and ominous woods, ringed by a moat. Not a very welcoming place for a home.

Unsure what to do next, she slowly took off southward, where she spotted some kind of destroyed camp. There was mud all over the place, and several broken and unbroken structures leaning against each other. Moreover, the place was occupied by strange-looking creatures, jumping with clubs in their hands or standing guard and looking about.

Blinking with curiosity, she lowered herself slightly and studied them, trying to figure out whether they were like her.

Probably not. They didn’t have wings and had different skin colors; red and blue and scaly; definitely not like her own skin. They didn’t notice her, because they weren’t keeping watch of the sky. Should she greet them and ask where she was?

Somehow they didn’t look too friendly, so she held still above a skull-like base, contemplating what to do.

Then the earth under the monsters suddenly began to tremble and they all jumped up, looking wildly from side to side. She had little time to do anything besides searching for the source of the earthquake herself, because the bleak structure below her suddenly broke to pieces. She rose in shock when a large, pointy object spouted from beneath the skull and reached for the sky. It moved past her with steady speed, and her eyes widened as it grew taller and taller.

Eventually it stopped. She gazed up at the building, which seemed to be some kind of tower. It was a deep orange within and had several small platforms attached to its sides.

Filled with awe, she ascended to take a closer look, taking note of the soft, beautiful music that seemed to come from its core. It made her believe this was an ancient creation with immense significance, and she wondered what it had been built for and what had made it rise from the ground at this moment. The sound was a bit familiar, though she couldn’t remember where she could’ve heard it.

The tower had brought along half of the monster camp’s skull, so the broad platform on the top was partly overshadowed. She landed on the edge and stepped to the middle, to a small pedestal with a rectangular gap in the center.

Right when she reached out her hand to touch it, another rumble arose, and a terrifying noise resounded from the building in the southwest. She whirled around and ran to the side of the platform to see what was happening.

Dark shadows erupted from the castle’s fundaments and twirled wildly, until some of them took the shape of a giant creature with bright yellow eyes and horrible tusks. The beast opened its mouth and roared, _roared_ so loudly that she had to cover her ears with her hands.

But it dissolved when a bright light in the center of the castle grew blindingly strong. When both the monster and the light had disappeared, all returned to that quiet state. Though the shadows remained, swirling ominously.

She stood frozen, trembling with something akin to fear. Despite that the danger had subsided for now, the monster and the columns and the shadows frightened her immensely. And she was _way_ too close to it all.

This wasn’t good. She had to get out of here. But on her left was the volcano, which she didn’t want to get close to. Behind her was the giant canyon, which she didn’t really want to cross… If she were to go to the right she would either have to fly close to the castle or move over the dark forest, which she didn’t really want to do either.

So she decided to go directly south, to the hills she saw there. Keeping a watchful eye on the castle she flew past it, crossing rivers and hills. When she reached the other side of the building, her eyes fell on a broken, destroyed town. It didn’t take much thinking to realize that the destruction had been the work of the giant monster she’d seen just now, and though the creature still frightened her, she was curious enough to come just the _tiniest_ bit closer and take a look at the town’s remains.

Until someone shone a red light on her. She stopped, looked down at her chest and followed the beam to see where it came from.

She locked eyes with a big, one-eyed, mechanical spider, right before it fired a bright blue laser.

With a yelp she shot out of the way. The beam missed her by an inch and exploded in the air a few meters behind her. Every fiber of her being screamed that she had to get away from this thing, or it would kill her given the chance.

Indeed, the spider aimed its eye at her once more, beeping as if announcing its plans. She spread her wings and fled, again only barely escaping the attack.

She moved further south, away from the castle and the beasts and the monsters. In the field beyond she spotted another tower and quickly made her way over, assuming that the top would bring her safety from the danger on the ground.

But as she approached, more lasers were pointed at her. She dipped and crashed onto the main platform, where they couldn’t reach her anymore.

Panting heavily, she leaned with her back against the pedestal in the middle and pulled her legs up, resting her arms on her knees.

What the hell was going on? And why didn’t she remember anything?

It felt as if there was a great emptiness in her mind, which was slowly getting filled with questions instead of answers. What was the pink forest? Why had she been sleeping there, wrapped up like a cocoon? Why was the castle such a dangerous place, and why did the monster dissolve when the light within it grew bright? Why was everything trying to attack her?

And what was she going to do now?

She got up again, crawled to the edge of the tower and looked down. There, stuck in the stone confinements of a broken town, were two of those mechanical spiders, and between the trees behind the ruins was a stalking one similar to the one that had attacked her near the castle. Its giant legs moved it forward fast and creepily, and she hated to look at it. If only she never had to pass one ever again.

But she couldn’t stay here forever.

For some reason, she really wanted to travel further south. She gazed into the distance and noticed giant walls surrounding some plain, with the silhouette of another building in the center. There was a tower there, too, though its stem was blue.

That seemed to be the place she wanted to go to, though she couldn’t explain to herself why.

First she should regain some of her strength. She hadn’t been awake for that long yet and was already this tired—not surprising, since she’d freaked out several times and flown at least a couple of kilometers without consuming any food.

She realized that, despite the distance she’d flown, she hadn’t seen anyone besides the spiders. She dearly hoped that she wasn’t the only actual person in this world, but the ruins scattered across the fields behind and below her didn’t provide much peace of mind.

After a deep sigh, she decided to take a little break. Perhaps if she just thought hard enough, she would discover something about herself or this place. Closing her eyes, she tried to turn into her mind and just think, think, _think_ … But her brain was empty, as if she’d never done or witnessed anything in her life. Strangely, this feeling seemed familiar—the feeling of not knowing. Why could she recognize _that_ experience, and literally nothing else?

Then suddenly, a deep inner voice whispered something. _Laya_ …

She opened her eyes and furrowed her brow. _Laya_. She felt like she’d heard that name before, or at least realized once upon a time that it had significance. Perhaps it was _hers_. She might as well accept it, since that was the only explanation she could think of right now.

Her brain failed to deliver any other information, so she pouted and laid herself down on her belly, gazing over the edge again. Her stomach rumbled below her.

Right. Food. That was a thing she needed.

The giant monsters would probably see her if she jumped off the edge, but what other choice did she have? It’s not like a meal would just come fly down from the clouds.

So she scrambled up, spread her wings and dove off the platform. Indeed, two spiders spotted her immediately and aimed their lasers. But they needed a few milliseconds to launch their attacks, and in that nick of time she had already shot out of range. The beams soared past her and exploded, hitting nothing.

Once they were out of sight, she descended slowly and landed in a small forest of birch and oak trees. When her eyes fell on the mushrooms growing between their roots, she forgot everything she had been planning to do and jumped on top of them, shoving them in her mouth. They were so delicious that she began to search for more. She found other kinds of mushrooms, and acorns, and nuts, and eggs in the trees, and took everything she could get her hands on.

Then she spotted the sparkling surface of a lake between the trunks, and she hurriedly made her way over. She dropped by the waterside and lowered herself to drink a lot, and then heaved herself up again. Her eyes got caught by those of her reflection, and she froze.

She found herself leaning in until her nose nearly touched the slow waves, and she curiously studied her own features. Her eyes were a pale color, her skin looked healthy, and her hair was shiny, wavy and goldish brown, like an acorn. The tiredness she was feeling was not at all visible in her complexion.

But she had trouble estimating her age. Not a teenager, probably, but definitely not old either. It differed a bit per expression, which was a bit confusing.

Another confusing thing was that her irises were suddenly no longer pale, but a bright green. She yelped in surprise and leaned even closer. Had they just changed color, or was her mind playing tricks on her?

She stared for a few minutes while nothing changed, so she concluded that it had been her own imagination. Sitting up straight, she lowered her eyes to her body and, for the first time since she was awake, took notice of the clothes she was wearing: a worn tunic of which the colors had faded to a pale green, beige leggings with low leather shoes below and a brown belt tied around her waist, with an empty pouch attached to the side. They weren't in the best state anymore, but they were comfortable still. She wondered when the last time was she’d changed; at least they didn’t smell.

The long hair wasn’t very convenient, she thought suddenly, but she had no means of cutting it. She took it all together and tried to twirl it in some kind of bun, but without anything to hold it there, it just fell around her face again.

Problems for later, she decided.

She got up and turned left, walking along the shore. There were fish in the water, and they looked…kind of delicious, but that was probably her still-unsatisfied stomach talking.

There was a small island in the middle of the lake, with reeds covering the bank. Curious to whether she could eat _those_ , she jumped and flew to the piece of land. There she crouched to check the plants—but froze when the ground behind her began to tremble.

She turned swiftly and watched with wide eyes as a heap of rocks came to life, attaching themselves to each other and transforming into some kind of stony giant, with boulders for hands.

To her horror, it turned its front to her.

“Oh boy,” she breathed, as the titan raised its arm and swung it down, launching large stones in her direction. Laya jumped to the side, rolling as she landed on the grass. Sudden anger raged inside her, and she glared at the monster with eyes full fury. “I will not let you hurt me,” she growled, and before she knew it she had hurled the stones back at it.

But she hadn’t even touched them.

She stopped in her tracks and stared at her hands. Had she seriously moved something without making contact with it?

There was a giant _thud_ and she looked up. Apparently she’d hit the monster in the right place, because it had stumbled over its own rocky feet and fallen to the ground. She saw an ore deposit the size of her body on the back of its head and assumed that that was its weak spot.

Thus she tried it again. Unsure how she’d done it before, she pointed her hands to a rock by her side and attempted to lift it without touching.

And it worked.

Once the stone was a meter in the air, she swung her arms sideways and made it crash into the ore deposit. Somehow she knew it had done some damage, so she threw another one, and another, just before the monster scrambled itself back together and got to its feet again.

Laya swallowed but clenched her fists. The fight was on.

She spread her wings and flew up, circling behind the monster and attacking it head-on with a stream of flames.

Again she halted. _Fire_?

But she didn’t have time to think about it. Her ray had done significant damage and the monster toppled over, crashing against the earth. She hit it with fire again, and again, and then with a boulder once more—until it finally trembled, exploded and disappeared.

Several gemstones erupted from the explosion and dropped to the ground. Laya landed between them and picked them up: some were bright orange, others a shiny white, and a few that looked like normal flints. One of them was dark red, and she found herself going, “Ooo.”

With the gems in her arms, she flew towards the western bank and waggled back into the forest. There she placed the stones in a small clearing, from where she had a nice view over the lake.

Her eyes fell on some ruins on the opposite bank, on a piece of land protruding into the water. She sat watching them for a few seconds, until she got curious: if she could control rocks and fire, maybe she had other skills.

Leaving the gemstones behind, she stepped to the waterside again and peered into the waves. Then she rose her hand, tried to connect with the water molecules below her and turned her palm upwards, making a fist. A stream of water rose from the surface and formed a round drop.

She relaxed her hand in surprise, and the bubble splashed back into the lake.

“Wow!” she whispered, eyes wide with delight. So she could control rocks, fire, _and_ water?! Had she known about this in the past? What did she normally use it for? _Was_ there even a normally? Perhaps she’d fallen asleep in her wings and woken up with these new powers?

In any case, it excited her immensely. She didn’t have a clue of what she was or why she could do this, but she was extremely happy with the discovery.

Her eyes turned to the sky, and she noticed it had gotten quite late. There was still a lot to discover, but it wouldn’t hurt to sleep first and then continue tomorrow. She returned to her clearing and collected some tree branches, which she made into a small pile. Then, holding her hand above it, she summoned more fire and lit it. A pleasant warmth spread from the flames and made her feel all safe and fuzzy. Perhaps she wouldn’t need to fear anything, if she had these powers to protect herself.

The next day she woke in an extremely cheerful mood. She’d had a great but weird dream, which she’d almost completely forgotten by the time she’d stretched herself out and opened her eyes. She remembered giant statues and kind voices, but unfortunately nothing else had stuck. There had been a strange feeling of familiarity, a feeling which was completely unknown to her in her waking life.

First, she decided to find some more food. Yesterday’s mushrooms had given her a lot of energy and she wanted more of those. She found both red and green ones, and she ate until she could no longer swallow.

After that, she decided to visit the ruins on the opposite bank and flew across the water. There used to be several buildings here, but none of them were intact; the roofs had all collapsed and a tower had fully toppled over. Entering the central building through a small archway, she saw a few old beds, a broken table, a rug that was torn to shreds and a few withered books. A sad feeling took a hold of her; this must have once been a lively place full of people, but now it was destroyed and abandoned. She wondered how many years it had been since someone last wandered here.

In one of the corners of the room was a pile of red leaves. She stopped and looked at it. There were no other leaves around, especially none gathered in one big heap. Perhaps…it hid something?

She approached with curiosity, dropped down on her knees and shoved them to the side. They revealed one big rock.

Raising one of her eyebrows, she picked it up to see what was underneath.

A small creature popped out of nowhere.

Laya shrieked and dropped the stone on its head.

“Oof!” it said.

It was tiny, with a green body and a blue leaf for a face. It hopped up and down when it saw Laya staring.

“Ya-ha-ha, you found me!” Then it halted. “Wait, you’re not Hestu! Well, if you find him, make sure to give him this!” It extended its tiny hand, which held something that looked like a golden seed. Laya took it slowly.

“Twee hee!” said the creature, staying there and looking at her.

“What—what are you?” Laya asked then, eyes wide with amazement.

“I am a Korok, a child of the forest! We are hidden everywhere, so make sure to check double when you see a strange spot!”

“A Korok…” Why did it feel like this wasn’t the first time she’d seen such a fellow? Her eyes lowered to the seed in her hand. “Well, thanks for this. I’ll, uh, be on my way then.”

“Sure!” said the Korok with a tiny hop.

Laya stared at it for a few more seconds, before getting up and jumping over a stone wall that was once way higher and meant to support a roof that was no longer there. After her landing, she noticed a long, rusty sword stuck in the ground, next to the adjacent building that consisted only of a flight of stairs and a platform with two walls and two windows—a watchtower, maybe.

There was also a shield, just as rusty, about two meters away. Perhaps this place used to be inhabited by people who knew their way with arms.

She decided to leave this deserted site behind and turn back to her clearing via the land, but way before she reached the woods, she spotted some movement in her peripheral. She turned her face to the left and looked.

It was a boy. A human like her. And he was fighting a tall red creature with a long snout.

A person! Filled with excitement she stepped forward, until she caught sight of his opponent’s giant weapon and stopped. She’d done enough fighting for the past two days and didn’t feel much for getting attacked again. The young man seemed to stand his ground anyway…

It looked like he had almost defeated the monster when Laya spotted a second beast, approaching from behind with large steps. The guy didn’t notice it, too engulfed in fighting the first.

The monster rose its weapon in the air, ready to strike.

“Oh, I don’t think so!”

Before she realized it, she’d jumped between them and attacked the beast with a blast of flames. It immediately caught fire and writhed for a bit until it disappeared in a dark shadow, leaving behind a horn and a fang.

She placed a hand on her chest and heaved a sigh. There was some rustling behind her, and she peeked over her shoulder. The guy had defeated his own monster and was currently collecting the things it had dropped.

Then he turned around.

She was met with the brightest blue eyes she’d ever seen. They were beautiful, clearer than the sky above their heads and framed by long, dark lashes. His face was fair, his skin even, and his hair long and golden, tied into a short ponytail. He was dressed in an old green shirt, tall boots and a pair of well-fitting trousers.

Laya was simply awestruck. What a stunning person.

He blinked once, twice, and then glanced to the grass behind her, to the club and the monster parts lying there. His eyes returned to her. “Hello.”

“Hello,” she said with a small jump, facing him fully. She cursed herself on the inside; even his voice was beautiful. “It was gonna attack you, so I jumped in and…defeated it, I think.”

“Oh.” He smiled. “Thanks.”

She stared at that smile for a few seconds, before she quickly shook her head and tried to smile in return. It felt more like a grimace, unfortunately. “Sure. Do you want these items?”

“Don’t you?”

“I don’t think so…”

“OK, thank you.” He moved past her and crouched, picking up the three objects and stuffing them in his bag. Laya tilted her head and wondered where the big weapon had suddenly gone.

“Who are you?” she asked then.

He got back up and placed a short traveler’s sword on his back. “I’m Link,” he answered, facing her again. “Or so it seems.”

“So it seems?” she repeated. “How do you mean?”

He smiled awkwardly. “I seem to have lost my memory.”

Laya blinked. “You too?”

It was quiet for a second. He regarded her with confusion. “‘You too’?”

“I don’t remember anything either.”

“Really?” The guy, Link, tilted his head in thought. “That’s a weird coincidence.”

Laya studied him, trying to get the gears in her brain to work and recover a memory of this boy, but with no result. “It really is.”

“So you don’t know your name?”

“Not really, but I have a feeling that it’s Laya.”

“Laya.” Link gazed to the side for a bit and shook his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Neither does Link,” she said with a sigh. “So, what are you doing here now? Are you lost as well? Figuring out what you’re going to do now that you don’t know anything about your life?”

“Well, I met someone who could actually brief me about mine.” He brushed his hands off on his trousers. “But it’s kind of a long story.”

“It’s not like I have to be anywhere,” she responded dryly.

He chuckled softly. “I don’t mind telling you.”

Laya nodded. “I’d love to hear it. Wait, come with me.” She led him to her clearing, where she’d left her gemstones.

“Wow!” Link said when he spotted them. He dropped to his knees and took the red one in his hands. “Where did you find these?”

“I got them after beating a stone monster.”

His eyes widened. “You _beat_ one of those? How?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Does that mean you came across one, too?”

Link nodded as he set himself down next to her cold campfire. “I gave up after a few seconds, though.”

“Understandable.” She took place on the other side of the wood. “I beat it using stones and fire.”

He was confused. “With a torch or so?”

She shook her head. “It seems I can…create or control fire, rocks, or water.”

A curious twinkle appeared in his eyes. “Can you do that now too?”

“If I want to.”

“Really?”

She raised her hands and activated her powers: fire in her right hand and water in her left.

His mouth fell open.

“I…take it you can’t do this?” she asked carefully.

He wildly shook his head. “Not as far as I know.”

“I see.” She closed her hands and made the orbs disappear. “I have no idea why I have this ability, nor why I have wings.”

He blinked. “Wings?”

“Yeah. You can’t see them?”

Again he shook his head.

“Really?” She turned her face to the side, but to her surprise there were no wings to be found. “Oh, wait. I didn’t know they could disappear.” When she focused on her back, telling herself she intended to fly, the expression on Link’s face changed from utter confusion to utter amazement. She smiled with relief. “Does that mean they’re back?”

He nodded swiftly.

“Phew. I was worried for a second.”

“They’re beautiful,” he said.

Her heart skipped a beat and she felt her cheeks heat up. “Thank you.” And when focusing on putting her wings away, they vanished into thin air. “Well, it’s good to know I can make them disappear. If not everyone has them, they might stand out too much…”

“I wish I had wings,” Link confessed. “It would have been so easy to leave that plateau. Now I just have this paraglider.” He took it from his bag and handed it to her.

Laya twisted and turned it to study every angle. “Nice piece of craftmanship,” she commented. “It looks like a good alternative to wings?”

Link nodded as she returned the object. “It works. But it won’t help me soar into the sky like I’m sure you’re able to do.”

“I see… That’s too bad,” Laya said with an apologetic smile. “So, you came from a plateau? Is that that large building over there?” She pointed southwards, to the giant walls.

Link nodded. “That’s the Great Plateau.”

“What were you doing there?” she asked, eager to know more about the place.

“It’s where I woke up yesterday, in the Shrine of Resurrection. I met an old man who told me to travel to four other shrines and collect Spirit Orbs.” Laya’s eyes were huge and curious, thus he continued, taking a small rectangular object from his waist. “In those shrines I awakened the runes on this slate, which allow me to move objects, create bombs or summon ice pillars.” He showed it to Laya, who carefully took it from him. “I guess as far as magical powers go, these are mine.”

“Wow!” Laya said happily. “That sounds fantastic.” She checked the object with care, turned it around and slid with her finger over the eye on the back.

“That’s the symbol of the Sheikah tribe,” Link explained. “An old group that has been creating all kinds of technology for thousands of years. It seems they don’t anymore, though.”

“That’s amazing…” Laya said, eyes shimmering with excitement. “You learned so much already.” She returned the slate to him.

“And where do you come from?”

Laya shook her head. “I don’t know. I woke up in some kind of forest.” She looked to the right, to the north. “While I was checking my surroundings, I almost got pierced by a giant tower spouting from the ground.”

“Ah.” Link raised a hand in the air. “That could be my fault. I activated the Great Plateau Tower, which triggered the others. I don’t know how many there are, though.”

Laya’s brow furrowed. “Wait, so you—you did that yesterday? Shortly after you woke up in that…Shrine of Resurrection?”

He nodded.

“Does that mean we woke up at the same time?”

A silence fell. The two looked each other in the eyes for a few tense moments. Laya felt goosebumps on her arms and neck.

“Seems like it…” Link mumbled.

Laya blinked wildly. “But that would be the weirdest coincidence! How is it possible that we were so far apart from each other and yet woke up at the exact same moment?”

“It’s odd to say the least.” He contemplatively crossed his arms and tried to remember whether King Rhoam had said anything about a girl with wings, but he hadn’t picked up anything of the sort.

Laya nodded. “You’re also the first normal human being I’ve come across since I traveled here from the forest.”

“Why did you come here, anyway?”

“Well, I…” She could tell him that she wanted to travel to the Great Plateau, but that wasn’t the initial reason she had chosen this route. “The castle scared me, so I wanted to get away.”

Link raised his eyebrows. “You approached the castle?”

“Nooo,” Laya said quickly, waving her hands in front of her face. “But I was nearby when a giant monster suddenly appeared from below it. Was that…your fault as well?”

“It wasn’t, but I did see it happen.” The corners of his mouth turned down. “Did you hear the voice, too?”

“Voice?” Laya shook her head. “I heard no voice.”

“I see…”

“Did it say anything interesting?”

He nodded. “I know who that monster is.”

“You do? Then do you also know what the metallic spiders are that attacked me with lasers?”

His face clouded over. “You were attacked by those things?”

Laya nodded. “But they didn’t hit me. I saw a lot of them though, especially near the castle and that tower over there.” She pointed to the north.

Link grimaced. “I encountered one on the Great Plateau as well and it just missed me. Scared the beetles out of me.”

“Oh no, they’re up there as well?” Laya’s eyes glanced south again. “That’s horrible. Here I was hoping I’d never have to face one again.”

“But if you were able to beat the Stone Talus with your powers, you might be able to beat Guardians as well,” Link said.

“Beat the what? And the _what_?”

He laughed softly, which was a great sound. “That monster you beat is called a Stone Talus, according to the slate. And King Rhoam—the old man I met—told me the spider creatures are Guardians. They used to be on our side, but they were taken over by Ganon when he attacked Hyrule. Calamity Ganon is the monster you saw circling the castle.”

“Wait, hold on.” Laya raised her hands, her brain already a mess. “You met a _king_ up there?”

“The spirit of one,” Link said. “King Rhoam was the king of Hyrule when Ganon attacked hundred years back.”

“We’re in Hyrule.”

A nod.

“And Ganon is the giant monster in the castle.”

Another nod.

“And he killed the king and took control of the spiders?”

A third nod. “And also of the Divine Beasts, which I have to free.”

Laya fell silent. “You’ve officially lost me.”

That soft laugh again. “Let me explain.”

And thus Link informed Laya of all he had discovered on the Great Plateau. He told her about Hyrule’s history, which went back ages, when the towers, Guardians and Divine Beasts were created by the Sheikah tribe. A hundred years ago, when they heard the prophecy of Calamity Ganon’s return, they uncovered the Guardians and the Beasts once again and selected people to pilot the latter, in the hope that they’d help defeat Ganon once he broke free—but everything turned haywire when Ganon took control of them and defeated the four Champions.

“In the distant past,” Link told Laya, “there were a princess and her appointed knight. The princess had a sacred power with which she could seal Ganon away, and the knight was chosen by the sword that seals the darkness, or so I’ve been told. Together they defeated Ganon, with the help of the Guardians and Divine Beasts. A hundred years ago we, apparently, planned to do the same, but Princess Zelda awakened her sealing power too late and I was defeated, so they took me to the Shrine of Resurrection to heal. The princess is now keeping Ganon at bay in the castle.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Laya said, raising her hands with the palms forward. “So hundred years ago, _you_ were the appointed knight and…Zelda was the princess with the sealing power?”

Link nodded.

“But you _died_?”

“I think I just collapsed… But it took me hundred years to heal, apparently. And even though I rested for so long, my stamina sucks.” That fact seemed to bother him immensely.

“Unbelievable,” Laya said softly. “So you _do_ know who you are. You are Princess Zelda’s appointed knight and owner of the sword that seals the darkness.” Her eyes lit up. “Do you have that sword now?!”

He shook his head. “I have no idea where it is.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.”

“And I know who I was, but I have no memory of it,” Link said, looking at the slate with somber eyes. “I don’t even remember what the princess looks like, or what I did as a knight in the castle.”

Laya watched him for a few seconds. It sounded like he’d lost a lot more than her. “I’m sorry.”

Link shook his head. “It’s alright. I hope to find out someday soon.”

“Yes,” Laya smiled. “And at least you know what your mission is, right? Free those four Divine Beasts so that they can help you and the princess defeat Ganon. Wait. You said Princess Zelda is _now_ keeping that monster at bay? Has she been doing that for hundred years?”

Link nodded. “And apparently her power is weakening, so I don’t have much time to lose.”

“Oh boy… That’s not good. What’s supposed to be your next destination?”

“Kakariko Village.” He opened the map on his Sheikah Slate and turned it to her. “It’s over there.”

Laya peered at the object. “Wait, why is this area mapped out but the other ones are all blue?”

“That’s the area of the Great Plateau,” Link explained. “The map became clear when the data from the tower was distilled.”

“So when you found the tower, you received a piece of the map?”

Link nodded.

“So you’re gonna have to find all the towers in order to complete it.”

Another nod.

“I found two towers,” Laya confessed. “Up north. One of them is pretty close by and the other is somewhere behind the castle.”

“Really?” His eyes lit up. “Do you think we can take them?”

“Well, the closest one is protected by a ton of Guardians,” Laya frowned. “So I’m not sure it would be a good idea… And the other is all the way behind the castle, near the forest where I woke up.”

“I see.” Link turned the slate back to him and looked over the map. “Then I guess we should just head to Kakariko Village first and see what they can tell us there.”

Laya blinked. “‘We’?”

He looked up. “Aren’t you coming with me?”

She was quiet for a long second. “I can?”

“Of course!”

Those two words improved her mood tenfold, and her eyes began to shimmer. “Really?” When he nodded, she gasped and clasped her hands together. “Yes! I’d love to come along with you! I mean, since we’ve both lost our memory and there’s definitely more to be uncovered about why we woke up at the same time, it kinda makes sense that I would, doesn’t it? Perhaps we’ll find out what I was doing in that forest close to the castle! Perhaps I used to live in that building, just like you! Or perhaps it’s just a coincidence and I’m from some very different place! In any case, let’s join forces and figure everything out together! And free the princess and defeat that monstrosity of a monster!” She raised her fists to the sky and lowered them, giggling happily.

But she grew completely silent when she spotted the breathtakingly beautiful smile on his face.

“So we’ll go together?” Link said then, eyes gentle and voice warm.

Laya sighed with relief and smiled softly. “Yes. We’ll go together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on aarafox.tumblr.com~


	7. The Journey Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished writing the whole story! *sobs softly* It was so much fun~. Now I'll be able to focus more on editing and will hopefully post more frequently. ^-^
> 
> Oh, and last but not least: this fic contains spoilers for the BotW game. :') And a few spoilers for the Champion's Ballad and Age of Calamity; I'll give a warning at the start of each chapter they're in (this ch isn't one of them)!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“But first,” Link said, clicking the slate back on his belt. “Are you hungry?”

“Have been from the moment I woke up,” Laya sighed.

“Great. Here you go.” Out of nowhere he summoned an entire meal, which he presented in front of her.

Her mouth fell open. “Where did that come from?”

“Cooked it on the Great Plateau. Here.”

Laya slowly took the plate, her mouth already beginning to water. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it.” He took out a second meal which he attacked immediately, gobbling it down as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

She took a small bite of the deliciously smelling fish and veggies, and groaned in delight. “This is so good!”

“Thanks!”

“I haven’t eaten anything but nuts and mushrooms these past two days.”

He looked up with an amused expression. “Guess I’ll do the cooking then.”

She chuckled. “Yes please. I’ll pay you with gratitude.”

After they’d finished their meals, it was time to officially begin their journey. As they got up and collected the gems and other items Laya had found, she suddenly turned to Link and said, “Hey, I have a weird question. What color are my eyes?”

He raised his gaze and studied her face for a moment. “Lilac?”

“ _Lilac_?” Her brow furrowed and she glanced at the lake, which she’d used as mirror yesterday. “Weird…”

“Is it? It suits you.”

His casual comment effectively flustered her, and she watched him with reddening cheeks. “It does?”

“Yes.”

She nodded slowly. “I see. Thanks. I like yours, too.”

“What color are they?”

Laya pointed upwards. “About as blue as that up there.”

He raised his eyes to the sky. “I see.”

“It suits you.”

“It does?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Laya chuckled softly. “Alright, I’m ready to go. You?”

He clicked the slate on his belt and sheathed his sword in the scabbard on his back. “All set. Let’s go.”

First they moved southwards—collecting mushrooms, herbs, apples, nuts and bugs as they went—and then turned to the east, arriving at the Gatepost Town Ruins. Like the ruins in which Laya had found the Korok, this place consisted of broken buildings and remnants of furniture. Link found a rusty claymore, which he added to his inventory.

“Where do you keep all your weapons?” Laya asked curiously, checking his belt and small pouch.

Link shrugged. “No idea, but as long as I can take more, I will.”

“So you keep plates full of food _and_ entire blades in those pockets?” she concluded with amazement.

“Yep.”

“Incredible! Feel free to share them with me sometime.”

“The plates and the blades, or the pockets?”

“…All three?”

He grinned. “Sure.”

Suddenly they heard a hit and a shriek, and they whirled around. Behind one of the decaying rooms were two Hylians, battling a red Bokoblin. It looked like they were in trouble, so Link and Laya rushed to their aid and defeated the monster for them, Link with his new broadsword and Laya with her powers. After the creature had vanished, Link crouched to collect the club and shield it had left behind, while Laya walked up to the girl, whose male companion was taking a breather against the ruin’s wall a few meters away.

“Hi!” Laya greeted the woman, happy to meet more people. “I’m Laya.”

But she was received with a glare. “Funny, I don’t remember asking for your help. And now they’ll call ME the rude one if I don’t thank you somehow.”

“I’m—” Laya began, too perplexed to really reply, but then the girl pressed a plate with food into her hands.

“Sneaky mushroom skewer!” Link said, placing himself beside her. “Delicious.”

“Hmph,” the girl huffed. “I’ll get ‘em next time for sure!”

At that moment the male Hylian came running, softly singing, “I’m saved!”

“Thank Hylia that Mina is safe,” he said when he’d joined their sides. “I knew it wasn’t smart to go treasure hunting in these parts. Thanks for your help!” And he and the girl called Mina headed back to the ruins.

Leaving the treasure hunters to their hunting, Link and Laya took the road which aligned with the Great Plateau walls. While Link took note of the blocked entrance, with sand and stones filling the door and cutting off the way, Laya gazed upwards. The structure towered on their right, meters and meters tall. She still deeply desired to fly up there, but she didn’t want to separate from Link and would never ask him to climb this intense obstruction only to return to a place he’d just left.

So she turned her back to the Great Plateau and headed east with her companion, entering the Outpost Ruins. There they found more abandoned buildings, attacked some monsters, destroyed a few wooden barrels and boxes which provided them with apples, arrows and other items, cautiously approached some inactive Guardians, opened a couple of chests and collected more rusty weapons (rusty halberds, rusty shields, rusty broadswords and a rusty claymore).

Sometimes Link dropped one of his blades in order to take another with him, which Laya observed with intrigue.

“I’m guessing your mysterious inventory isn’t unlimited?”

He threw her a small grin. “Unfortunately not.”

Except for the monsters, the Outpost Ruins were completely deserted. The ripped flags and crushed beds and shelves that were scattered around the place again evoked the sad feeling Laya had experienced at the ruins near the lake, and she desperately desired to find structures in which the furniture was alive and well. If there were still any left across Hyrule.

Exiting the Outpost Ruins and entering the East Post Ruins, they spotted a cross-roads with a signpost. One of the signs pointed to the south, carrying the words “Lake Hylia”, while the other pointed to the east, mentioning “Dueling Peaks” and “Hateno Village.”

The two looked at each other.

“Was Hateno Village the one we needed to go to?” Laya asked.

Link shook his head. “Kakariko Village, but the king said we should travel through the Dueling Peaks.”

Laya looked to the south, but the winding road disappeared behind the hills. “I guess we should go east, then.”

Before taking off, however, they spotted two red Moblins stalking between the ruins ahead.

“Nasty creatures,” Laya mumbled, flexing her fingers and preparing to attack. “Why are there are so many around these parts?”

“Let’s take them down,” Link said, grabbing a Moblin club from his back.

They jumped in front of the first monster, defeated it with a few strokes and collected the two fangs, the horn and the Boko bat it left behind. Link’s weapon had broken during the fight, which had cleared a space in his inventory that he could now fill with the new bat. The other monster had wandered off into the ruins without noticing them, so they decided to leave it for now and quickly continue.

On their left was a wall-less room with the remains of a table and a few beds scattered across the floor.

“Can you imagine what this place must’ve looked like?” Laya asked, stopping in her tracks and watching the broken objects. “It just keeps making me feel melancholic… I bet this town was thriving once; what could’ve destroyed something like this?”

“A fight, probably…” Link mumbled. “A big one.”

“I guess all your new weapons are proof of it,” Laya sighed.

They were quiet for a moment, until Link softly spoke, “Let’s go, before that other Moblin sees us.”

But when they stepped away from the room, they were spotted by three Bokoblins instead.

So they attacked again.

After collecting the body parts and the weapons left behind—two of which were a wooden mop and a farming hoe, to Laya’s delight—they continued in the direction of a bridge. Before arriving there, however, they noticed a shrine on their right, a few meters from the road.

“Wow, look at this gorgeous little building!” Laya rushed between the low hills, pointing at it. “Absolutely delightful!”

“It’s a shrine,” Link said as he followed her. “If we beat its challenge, we receive a Spirit Orb that we can use to get stronger.”

“Really? This is one of those shrines you visited on the plateau? Amazing!” She danced around the structure, checking it from every side. “Do you hear that soft music coming from inside? It’s beautiful! How do we get in?”

“With the slate,” Link said, taking the object from his belt. He walked up to the pedestal next to the door and held the device against it.

Laya watched with sparkling eyes as the gate to the shrine opened up for them. They skimped into the structure together and waited—but the round platform didn’t descend like it had done in the shrines on the Great Plateau.

“Is something wrong?” Laya asked, looking from the floor to the ceiling. “Why is it not working?”

She got out to check whether anything had changed, but as soon as she stepped off the circle, it rumbled and sank into the floor. She turned around right as the top of Link’s head disappeared below the ground.

“Oh…” Now left alone with the shrine’s soothing music, she crossed her arms and pouted. “Guess the challenge is only meant for the person with the slate.”

She turned her back to the entrance and sat down on the front steps, planning to wait for his return.

But after about ten seconds of restlessly bouncing her knees, she got up again. There wouldn’t be any harm in exploring the area while Link was busy, right?

She started at the foot of the low mountain next to the shrine, where she found two ore deposits that she destroyed with her earth power, receiving a flint and an orange gem. Looking at the sparkling stone, she began to wonder whether Link’s slate held information on objects as well as places and creatures. If so, she’d love to know the kind of gems she’d found yesterday.

Upon further exploration of the area, she discovered a small circle of stones in the middle of the river that ran east of the shrine. A collection of rocks was gathered on the waterside, so she lifted one of them up and threw it with immense strength into the circle.

_Poof!_

A small creature popped up out of nowhere, staying airborne by a stick with a propelling leaf.

“Yahaha!” the Korok said happily. “You found me!” And like the previous ones, it handed over a golden seed.

After gratefully accepting it, Laya raised her eyes to the sky and spotted the first stars twinkling in the distance. She hadn’t noticed in the slightest that time had been flying so fast—new experiences didn’t slow the sun’s course, it seemed.

But suddenly it felt as if the world was becoming less and less friendly; darkness was closing in on her and bats were beginning to patrol the area. She turned on her heels and hurried back to the shrine, hoping that Link would be waiting for her there.

But he wasn’t back yet. Praying that the bats hadn’t followed her, she prepared to sit back down on the steps—until the ground before her feet suddenly began to move.

To her immense horror, two Bokoblin skeletons came crawling from the earth.

Her eyes widened. “Whelp…”

One skeleton carried a Boko bat, while the other pulled an arrow on a traveler’s bow. She placed her feet firmly on the grass and raised her fists, accepting the fight.

The first Bokoblin ran up to her swinging its weapon, but Laya burned it to crisp as soon as it was within reach. Then she swerved, dodging an arrow released by the second monster and charged forward.

Soon her other enemy was burned as well, and the bones vanished—all except for two arms. Disgustingly enough, they kept moving wildly, wriggling their fingers in the air as if trying to grasp their opponent.

Suppressing a shiver, she stooped to collect the arrows, horns and fangs and then approached one of the arms.

“Gross,” she whispered, bending over to wrench the bow from those squirming fingers. She also took the large Boko bat and decided to keep it, for when Link and his magical inventory returned. Sitting back down on the steps, she waited in silence.

Link returned shortly after, exiting a now fully blue-colored shrine.

“Welcome back,” Laya smiled. “How did it go?”

“Good! I got the orb.”

“Great job!”

Then he noticed the weapons and body parts on her lap and quickly sat down next to her. “Were you attacked? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” She lifted the objects from her knees and presented them in front of him. “Here, for you.”

He took them without looking away from her eyes. “What happened?”

“Er, I’m not sure.” Laya glanced to the arms and pointed. “Monster skeletons came from the ground all of a sudden.”

“Skeletons?” He followed her finger with raised eyebrows and spotted the wriggling bones. A small sigh of relief escaped him. “Looks like they didn’t stand a chance.”

She chuckled. “They didn’t.”

Link got up and lifted one of the limbs, studying it from all sides.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna take it with you.”

“Could be a good weapon,” he said, placing his free hand against his chin. “But I don’t think it’s stronger than the ones I carry now.” So he tossed it over his shoulder and stepped back to Laya, who heaved a relieved sigh.

“I can’t join you on the shrine quests, it seems.” She smiled up at him. “That’s too bad. What did you have to do in there?”

“I had to follow a few gusts of wind,” Link replied as he retook his place beside her.

Laya blinked. “Just that?”

He stifled a laugh. “Yeah. Until I reached the monk at the back.”

She was quiet for a second. “There are _people_ in there?”

“Just one in each. And it looks like they’ve been there since…some time ago.”

“You’re kidding!” Laya was incredibly surprised by that news. “That’s so interesting! Do they talk? What do they say?”

“Oh, just about me having completed the trial. ‘In the name of Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this Spirit Orb,’ etcetera.”

“Hylia?” Her eyebrows rose in curiosity. “Who’s that?”

“I’m…not sure. The monks offer their trials in her name. The first time I met one, he told me that they are blessed with the sight of the Goddess and mean to help those who want to defeat Ganon.”

“Wow…so they’re a pretty big deal. That probably means Hylia knows you exist, right?”

He nodded. “She allowed me to exchange Spirit Orbs in return for power, back on the Great Plateau.”

Her mouth fell open. “You _met_ her?!”

“Oh, no.” He quickly waved his hands. “Just the statue via which she spoke.”

“I’m…” She slightly shook her head and looked away. “That sounds incredible. What kind of world did I land in?”

“A world you likely knew much more of, once upon a time,” Link said with a smile, leaning forward in the hopes of catching her eyes again.

“Yeah, I guess so.” She chuckled and met his gaze. “I wish I could follow you inside and see that monk for myself!”

“Well, he’s gone now.” He leaned back now that he’d accomplished his mission of locking eyes with her once more. “They disappear once they’ve given me the Spirit Orb.”

“Where do they go?”

But he wasn’t able to tell her that.

“Probably back to the Goddess, now that they’ve fulfilled their divine purpose,” Laya mused. “Sounds mystical.”

They watched the skeleton arms in silence for a few seconds, until Link turned his face back to her. “Wait, is wind not one of your powers?”

She blinked. “Why would it be?”

“It’s the fourth of nature’s elements, right?”

Laya opened her mouth and then closed it again, which she did a couple of times before yelling, “I didn’t realize they’re all elements!” She slapped a hand against her forehead, startling Link. “How stupid! Hold on, let me try something.”

She lifted her hands, closed her eyes and detected the tiniest of breezes flowing over her skin. Then she quickly thrust her right hand forward, summoning a powerful gust that attacked from behind.

“Oof!”

Her move had hit Link full force and knocked him almost double. She opened her eyes, discovered her blunder and let out a cry of shock.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that would happen!” She reached out but wasn’t sure what to do. “Are you okay?!”

Link sat up straight, brushed his hair back into what it had been and laughed shortly. “No worries.”

“You’re not hurt?”

He shook his head.

“Oh, thank goodness.”

“So, what do you think?” he grinned. “Now you’ve got the fourth one, too.”

Laya regarded him with sparkling eyes. “You’re right! It’s weird, right? And I don’t know in the slightest where they came from.”

“It sounds pretty special,” he smiled. “Maybe we’ll find out more as we travel.”

“I really hope we do.” She sighed. “It would be great if we could both figure out what happened in our lives.”

“Yep.”

The two sat there watching each other in pleasant silence for a while, until Laya gazed past him in the direction of the bridge. There was a small fire blazing on its right pillar. “So…what should we do now? It’s gotten pretty dark.”

“Find a place to sleep, maybe…” Link got up, walked back to the road and disappeared behind the low hill rising between the shrine and the bridge.

Laya followed him to the stone steps of the Proxim Bridge, where they halted and studied the beach spanning across the western bank of the river.

“There’s a monster camp over there,” Link said, sneaking closer to the northern railing and gazing over it. “Should we defeat it and take their treasure? Then we can rest by the fire tonight.”

“Sounds good. Maybe the flames will keep the skeletons away.”

It was a small camp; just a group of six Bokoblins sleeping around a burning fire, a treasure chest with glowing purple eyes on a wooden platform nearby, and a cooking pot several meters closer to the bridge.

They skulked around the stone railing and silently made for the camp, descending the short slope while shuffling low through the grass. They halted at the cooking pot and hid behind the large rock resting there; the monsters were still fast asleep.

As they peeped over the lower side of the boulder, they discovered the bomb barrels surrounding the enemies’ circle.

“Convenient,” Link mouthed, taking a fire arrow and laying it on the string of his bow.

“Wait,” Laya whispered, stopping him with a hand on his arm. “I’ll watch from above and take out any that survive.”

“Good thinking,” Link agreed.

Laya took a few steps back, summoned her wings and then rose to the sky, bringing herself with a wide, vertical curve above the camp. Link realized then that this was the first time he saw her fly, and for a few seconds he was too perplexed to focus on the task at hand. The moonlight glittered through the wings’ transparent surface, casting sparkles onto the stony beach. The effect entranced him.

Once she was in position, meters high above the monsters so as to evade the explosion, she gave him a thumbs up. Link aimed for one of the barrels and let the arrow fly.

The bombs exploded one after another and enveloped the monsters in fire. Most of them flew off and vanished immediately, but the last one, a blue Bokoblin, survived the attack and scrambled back to its feet, searching desperately for its attacker. Laya dove down and sent a blast of flames its way, defeating it quickly.

As soon as the creatures had all disappeared, the purple eyes in the chest turned yellow.

“Why does it do that?” Laya asked as she landed near the fire. Link was already on his way to the ladder.

“I think it’s locked by Ganon’s power,” he explained, climbing the platform. “These monsters are his allies. Once they’re gone, the dark magic that contains the chest disappears and we can open it.”

“Ooh, cool!”

He raised the lid while whistling a cheerful tune, and took out a soldier’s bow.

“Pretty,” Laya commented, as he dropped a traveler’s bow so he could add his reward to his inventory.

He jumped from the elevation and the two stepped back to the cooking pot at the front of the camp.

“Speaking of which,” Laya said as Link sat down on the tree trunk lying there. “Does your slate contain information on items?”

He nodded.

“Nice, because I still don’t know the names of my gems.”

Link took his device, opened the overview of his inventory and gestured for Laya to sit beside him, so that he could show her. Laya took place on the tree, keeping a respectable distance of about half a meter, and looked down at the screen.

“Oh, that’s interesting,” she said when she saw the whole list of items he was carrying, which turned out to be way more than she’d expected. “It’s as if this thing is connected to your pockets.”

“That’s right,” Link said. He showed her his weapon collection, the meals he was carrying, and the number of Spirit Orbs and Korok seeds he had received.

“Wow!” Laya said full amazement. “And now I see there’s a limit to the number of weapons you can bring… There’s only a few squares.”

He nodded and scrolled back to his items. “Hey,” he said then, halting at the gems. “It says I have a ruby, but I don’t remember getting one.”

“Do you think it’s mine?” Laya asked, placing a hand on her pouch.

“Possibly?”

“How can we check it? Chuck it?”

He laughed softly. “Try?”

She took out the gem, raised her arm and threw it as far over the beach as she could. They simultaneously bent over the slate’s screen and watched as the ruby disappeared.

“So it’s connected to me too!” she exclaimed. “How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know.” Link slid from one page to the other to check if it was truly gone. “But I think that means you can bring more items, too.”

“That would be awesome, having an unlimited inventory like you.”

“Except when it comes to weapons,” he sighed.

“Yeah… It’s too bad there’s a limit to those. Alright, be right back.” She spread her wings and left to retrieve the ruby, which was blinking in the moonlight about a dozen meters away. Link watched as she landed near the water, stooped and then came soaring back over the beach with the stone in her hands.

When she flopped down next to him, his eyes returned to the slate. “Yep, it’s back.”

“Incredible! Good to know that the perks of the slate extend to your travel companion.” She put the ruby back in her pouch and made her wings disappear. Then she leaned on her right hand, brought herself a tiny bit closer and regarded him with big, curious eyes. “Sooo… What meals were in your pocket again?”

He swiped to the list with food and turned the screen to her. “Have your pick!”

Laya chose the reward they’d received for helping out the Hylians at the ruins. “And what will you have?”

“I think I’ll make something new.” He took an egg, meat, salt and herbs and threw them in the cooking pot, stirred and hummed for a couple of minutes until he’d created a delicious dish of salt-grilled meat. He looked absolutely delighted with his creation; he was practically drooling.

“Do you like cooking?” Laya asked, enjoying the expression on his face.

“Well, mainly what comes after it.” He sat down with the plate on his lap, licked his lips and took a fork from his pouch.

“Ah,” she smiled. “That’s fair.”

For a few minutes they ate in silence, but then they began talking softly about the day and exchanged a couple of bites. After finishing their food, the two nestled themselves comfortably beside the fire, and spent the first night on the bank of Hylia River.


	8. Where the Rivers Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed all spellings in the fic to American English so that it fits better with the game! I'm more used to British English though, so please let me know if you find any mistakes. 🥰
> 
> Enjoy!

The sun was already up and shining in the sky when they awoke the next day. Link got to cooking breakfast right away, while Laya headed to the river to wash her face. Again her eyes fell on her reflection, and again her eyes were a bright green.

She furrowed her brow, shook her head and returned to Link.

“My eyes aren’t lilac now, right?” she asked, pointing to her face.

Link looked up from the cooking pot. “They are, though?”

“Seriously?” She hurried back to the water and dropped to her knees. At last she saw them too: two soft purple irises. “I’m so confused…” she whispered to the waves.

“Hylia River is truly a mystery.” She looked over her shoulder and saw Link smirk at her, stirring the food before him.

Heaving a defeated sigh, she got up and stepped back to their camp. “I swear they were a different color just now.” She sat down on the tree trunk near the cooking pot and placed her elbows on her knees. “I guess we could add it to the many mysteries about me that already exist.”

“Let’s do that. Would you like some glazed mushrooms?”

“You know I would.”

After finishing Link’s delicious breakfast, they shuffled back up the slope in the direction of the Proxim Bridge. Before reaching it, however, Link halted at the tall flag pole that marked the end of the East Post Ruins and looked up.

“Do you ever get the urge to climb stuff?” he said.

Laya studied the flag flowing gently above their heads. “All the time.”

“Be right back.” He grabbed pole and clambered up.

A few leaves and sparkles danced at the top, and he curiously leaned forward. A Korok popped out of nowhere and granted him a seed, after which he flew back to Laya with his paraglider.

“I guess it was a good idea,” he said, showing her the seed.

“Nice! That means we probably shouldn’t shy away from checking out random high points. You know, I have a theory,” she continued as they climbed the steps of the Proxim Bridge, “I think they might actually be tiny turds. I mean, they kind of smell, don’t they?”

Link laughed. “You could be right.”

There was a Hylian man standing in the middle of the bridge, gazing into the distance with a hand above his eyes. As they approached him, they heard him mumble, “The end is here…”

Link and Laya paused, silently looked at each other and then took another step forward.

“I may be somewhat used to seeing bad omens by now, but that… Well, let’s just say it’s badder than most.” The Hylian put his walking stick on the ground and turned to his visitors. “We’re doomed! I mean, don’t panic! Sorry, who are you? Have we met?” When the youngsters opened their mouths to reply, he already continued. “Well, doesn’t matter who you are, really. My name’s Brigo. I was getting tired of talking to myself, so you’ve come at a good time. By the by, those strange things that popped out of the ground… Did you see them?”

Laya pointed behind her with her thumb and began, “Do you mean…?”

Brigo shook his head and cut her off. “I’m not talking about mushrooms here! I’m talking about those towers! They seem to have popped up all over the place!”

After gazing over their shoulders in the direction Brigo was pointing, Laya leaned closer to Link and mumbled, “Looks like you scared others besides me by summoning those things.”

He pressed his lips together to hide a smile.

“And that’s not the only strange thing that’s happened,” Brigo rambled on. “Those long-deserted shrines suddenly started glowing! You know what this means, don’t you? The end is here! With all this craziness happening, I’ve been keeping an eye on that thing. Just to see if it suddenly starts moving, ya know?”

“What thing?” Link asked.

“I’m talking about that Guardian, of course! Haven’t you heard the old stories about Hyrule?”

“Can’t say I have, really,” muttered Laya dryly.

The man took his stick and pointed with it over the edge of the bridge. The two followed it with their eyes and noticed the dark silhouette of a Guardian on the opposite bank.

“See that thing over there? The one shaped like an overturned urn? THAT is what I’m talking about. Did you know some of them can move? One of them once chased me down and tried to kill me!”

“This one here?” Laya asked.

He shook his head. “No, it was a different one. That one was closer to the castle but before the forest… When they spot you, they shoot blue beams of light at you! Man, I was so sure that was the end for me. I was prepared for the worst. But I somehow managed to escape into the nearby woods. You think it was my lightning-fast reflexes that saved me? Ha, I wish. Truth is, I just got lucky. Anyway, I hear Guardians like that still wander around Hyrule Castle. Be careful.”

The two looked at each other, Laya’s mouth shut tight. It looked like they shouldn’t approach the castle until they were sure they would be able to defeat those scary creatures.

“Alright, gotta continue those patrols. The monsters won’t chase away themselves, you see! Let’s wish each other good luck, eh? We’ll need it!” He stepped away from the railing and sauntered in the direction Link and Laya had come from.

“I’m gonna take a closer look,” Laya mumbled, approaching the edge of the bridge and setting one foot on it. “Make sure it’s not alive and ready to, you know, blast us off the road…”

“Coming,” Link said, joining her on the bridge’s side.

“Hey! Don’t be rash!”

The two turned back in surprise and found Brigo staring at them with panic in his eyes. “I’m young, but you two are even younger! I’m trying my best out here, but I get the feeling you’re going to end up trying even harder in this world. That’s the feeling I get when I look at your faces… But maybe I’m nuts. Now calm down and climb off that rail. And don’t climb down THAT way. Climb down THIS way!”

“Oh, you really don’t have to worry,” Laya began, raising her palms towards him.

“You’re fine. Just don’t be so careless. There are too many enjoyable things in the world to gamble with your life!” Brigo exclaimed.

“We know, we know,” Link said, also lifting a hand. “We just want to fly to the other side.”

Brigo blinked a few times. “F-fly?”

“Yup.” Laya turned back to the water. “Ready? Let’s go!” And as she spread her wings and jumped off the rail, Link took his paraglider and did the same. Together they flew towards the Guardian, leaving a dumbfounded Brigo alone on the bridge.

Laya reached the bank with no problem, but it was a bit too far for Link’s paraglider and he landed in the river. After a few strong strokes, he reached the bank and wrung out the hem of his shirt.

Laya giggled softly. “That’s a bummer. Here, allow me.” She summoned two small orbs of fire in her hands and danced around his body for a minute, drying his clothes with the heat in her palms.

“Thanks,” Link smiled when she was finished.

“No biggie!”

They approached the Guardian together, but nothing happened.

“Thank Hylia,” Laya sighed, pressing a hand to her chest. “Guess this one’s properly inactive. Should we continue?”

“Wait,” Link said, gazing past the Guardian into the distance. “Is…that a giant horse?”

Laya turned around. “Where?”

“There, above the trees.” He took the slate to zoom in on the structure and get a better look.

Laya spread her wings again. “I’ll check.” She rose into the sky, peered for a few seconds and then returned to Link. “It looks like it, and I believe there’s a shrine next to it as well!”

“Great! Let’s check it out.”

Because Link didn’t feel much for getting wet again, they decided to approach their destination via another bridge a bit further up north.

But halfway during the short trip to the crossing, the two found themselves scrutinizing a strange boulder.

“Suspicious!” Laya decided and she kneeled down. “Looks like there’s a smaller one underneath.”

“I’m having a feeling,” Link mumbled, taking the slate from his belt again.

Laya got up and instinctively took a step back. “A good one?”

“We’ll see.” Link froze the boulder using Stasis, hit it a few times with a traveler’s claymore and waited.

Laya looked on with interest, and jumped half a meter in the air when the force of Link’s actions suddenly broke free and launched the rock to the other side of the river, where it landed heavily in the grass.

While she stood frozen, blinking with surprise, Link stooped to pick up the rock that had been revealed.

_Poof!_

It was—unsurprisingly—a Korok. They gladly received the seed and continued their way to the Owlan Bridge, where they found another Korok. And shortly after they met another.

“Those creatures are everywhere, huh,” Laya commented, putting the seed in her pocket. “I wonder what we’ll end up doing with all these little things.”

“I think they’re meant for one of their Korok friends, but I don’t remember their name.”

“Oh, right! I remember the first one I met mistaking me for someone else. Then I guess it’s our job to return those seeds.”

Now their destination came into better view, and they circled the place until they reached the front side. The building’s name was carved in a board above the counter: Riverside Stable.

It was a big round tent with two entrances on each side of the counter, and a huge wooden horse head on the roof. There were lots of animals: three horses chewing food from a trough, and bucks and Cuccoos wandering in two fenced areas on small islands in the river behind the stable. An open structure a few meters away roofed bales of hay, and nearby, built on the opposite side of the path, was the shrine.

And there were people! More people than either Link or Laya had seen together in one place since they’d awoken from their slumbers: a sitting man with a backpack thrice his own size, another man behind the stable’s counter, a third man next to the cooking pot, and a woman inside the tent.

“A stable!” Laya said, reading the name. “So there _are_ intact structures in this kingdom after all!”

Link stepped to the counter. Behind it, inside the tent, stood the clear-eyed stable owner, with two brown hair braids on either side of his face and a brown goatee on his chin. He was wearing a thin green scarf, thick blue gloves, a comfortable blue vest over a white, long-sleeved shirt and a matching hat with the face of a horse stitched on the front. A small nameplate on his chest read “Ember.”

“Welcome to my stable,” Ember greeted Link with a business smile. “We deal in all things horse related. We also double as an inn.” He furrowed his brow. “Huh… I haven’t seen your face before. Do you know about the stable system?”

“I don’t,” Link replied while Laya took place beside him.

“Then allow me to explain. You can board your horse companions with us and then summon them as you please from our network of stables. You may come across wild horses during your travels… If you catch one and ride it here to register it, it will become your horse companion. One person can board up to five horses, and you’re able to swap horses in and out as you please. Do you…know how to catch a wild horse?”

“Catching horses?” Link and Laya asked simultaneously.

“OK,” Ember nodded. He proceeded by providing them with an extensive explanation of how to catch a horse—slowly approach it from behind and soothe it until it’s calm—and how to handle one once they had earned its trust. So far, Link and Laya hadn’t seen any wild horses, but they thanked him for the explanation and would make sure to remember it once they met some catch-worthy steeds.

Ember smiled. “Welcome to our stable. If you’ve come with a wild horse, you can register it with us here. Or if you want to stay for a rest, please head to the counter inside. So what’ll it be?”

Link and Laya locked eyes. They didn’t have a horse with them and still had some ways to travel today, so they didn’t really need any other information.

“Nothing for now,” Link replied. “Thank you.”

“All right,” Ember said. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

The two nodded and turned around. Their eyes immediately fell on the guy with the giant backpack, who was peeking at them around his baggage. He turned away swiftly when he saw he’d been busted.

“Come one, come all!” he sang softly as they neared.

He was an interesting dude, with his brown bowl cut, eight freckles (four on each cheek), long red nose and small eyes that stood just a bit too close together. He wore a white crop top and a red neck scarf, and on his lap lied a small wooden table with a green checkered cloth splayed across it. Two signs were attached to the front: a red-blue one that said “best value” and a white one with a red flower that read “great deal.” He was uncharacteristically toned, though considering his huge and heavy luggage it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

“Hey!” he said once they were in front of him, throwing his arms in the air. He gleefully clasped his hands together, waving them from side to side. “I don’t think I’ve made your acquaintance! The name’s Beedle, but you can call me— Actually, let’s just stick with Beedle. But even if you forget my face, you can remember me by my beetle-shaped backpack! What are your names, if I may be so bold to ask?”

Laya, affected by his enthusiasm, gestured to herself and Link and gave him their names.

“Thank you!” Beedle said with sparkling eyes. “Despite these dangerous times, you’ll find me travelling all over Hyrule to fulfil your shopping needs. I stock many special bugs and must-have items for travelers, and I always charge a fair price…or my name’s not Beedle! I also buy all sorts of things, if you’re in need of rupees. Gemstones in particular fetch a high price! How can I help you today?”

“Ah, a merchant!” Laya said, happily intertwining her fingers. “How nice! What kind of things do you sell?”

“I’m sure I have something you’ll find useful! Please have a good look!” Beedle showed them some arrows and three different creatures: thunderwing butterflies, electric darners and tireless frogs.

Laya leaned forward to take a better look. “Wow, I’ve never seen those critters before. At least I think so.”

“I could use some new arrows,” Link said, checking his weapon inventory.

“Of course!” Beedle said cheerfully. “That’ll be 120 rupees, please!”

The youngsters blinked.

“Rupees?” Laya asked, looking at Link.

“Hyrule’s currency, I guess.” Link took his pouch and opened it. “I found some along the way…”

Laya inched closer and looked inside. “How much have you got?”

“About 70.”

“So you can buy a few.” Laya scratched her head and turned to Beedle. “Or we can sell stuff. You said gemstones are worth a lot?”

“That’s right!” he confirmed with an enthusiastic nod.

“We also have a lot of monster parts,” Link said, rummaging through his bag.

They sold a bunch of gemstones and Bokoblin parts and exchanged the rupees they received for 20 arrows and an electric darner. Then they took their leave and moved on to the guy standing near the cooking pot, to see whether he had anything interesting to say.

“Could go for a bite,” he mumbled to himself as they approached.

“Same here,” Laya said and they halted in front of him.

He was much bigger than Link and Laya, and wore the same outfit as Ember the stable owner. Now they realized the blue vest depicted two horses in a lighter color.

“Ah, customers,” the man said. “My name’s Gotter. Are you two travelling alone?”

“Yes,” Link said.

“I see,” Gotter nodded. “This inn gets full marks for beauty, so I highly recommend taking a rest here. The river here makes for some lovely scenery, and if you head northwest from here, you’ll find the Millennio Sandbar. The scenery there is every bit as lovely as the scenery here!”

“That sounds delightful!” Laya said.

He took the inner edges of his jacket and proudly straightened them. “I’m something of a connoisseur of beauty, you see—I simply cannot resist a beautiful sight! I try to exude this in all things, not least of all my own beautiful appearance.”

Laya smirked, and Link cocked his head.

“Speaking of…” Gotter placed a thoughtful hand against his chin and looked Link up and down, “has anyone ever told you… You have the most beautiful features!”

Link blinked and actually looked over his shoulder. Then he pointed to his chest with a face covered with question marks. Laya giggled softly by his side.

“Ahh,” Gotter continued. “I do have many fond memories of this beautiful land… If you have the time, would you indulge me?”

Link and Laya glanced at each other and came to their third non-verbal agreement of the day.

“We’ll listen,” Link said with a nod.

Gotter perked up. “Oh, you would? Even more beautiful on the inside! Now, let’s see…”

They didn’t _really_ regret their decision, but afterwards felt they could’ve spent these minutes slightly better. Gotter got carried away telling them about his ancestor who used to be the castle’s appointed chef, and he would love to one day eat something that had been served in the royal dining room.

“If you happen to set foot in Hyrule Castle, could you find it in you to keep an eye out for a cookbook?” he requested at last. “There must be one lying around in there somewhere! I’m simply dying to finally sample the food of the royal court.”

“Sure, why not?” Laya said.

“Thank you so very much!”

The two turned away and left Gotter to his food fantasies.

“Phew, that was some monologue,” Laya huffed softly as they began to make their way to the nearby shrine. Once they were close enough, the slate announced its name: Wahgo Katta Shrine.

Link halted and turned to Laya without saying anything.

She smiled at him. “Guess I’ll leave you to it.”

“Yeah.” He took the pouch with rupees from his belt and gave it to her. “See you in a bit.”

“Good luck!”

And he entered the shrine.

Weighing the money bag in her hand, Laya dawdled back to the stable, wondering what she should do. Her eye fell on Beedle, who was enthusiastically writing in a little book. This image gave her an idea.

“Hey Beedle.”

The merchant’s eyes lit up when he saw her. “Hello again! What are you looking for? Or are you selling?”

“Do you sell notebooks?”

“Notebooks, notebooks…” Beedle put a hand against his chin and pondered. “Well, they aren’t part of my assortment, but I do have some. I like to keep diaries, you see!”

“Ah, so that’s what you were writing just now!”

“Indeed!” Beedle reached into his giant, beetle-shaped bag and took out an unused book with a dark red cover. “Here’s one. It comes with a pencil.”

“Awesome! How much do you want for it?” Laya reached into her pouch, checking how many rupees they had left after their previous exchange.

Beedle thought for a second. “Five rupees, but only if you still have enough!”

Laya smiled. “Thanks, I do have enough! Here you go.” She took out the money and placed it in Beedle’s palm. He passed her the notebook and pencil in return.

“Thanks for the business!” he said. “Did you need anything else?”

“No, I think that’s all. Thanks a lot!”

“Righty-o! Hope to see you again soon!”

Laya entered the stable’s tent, sat down on a stool beside a wooden table, opened the notebook and penned the details of Gotter’s request: the person they’d received it from, the place where they met the person in question, and what they exactly needed to do.

Then she raised her head and let her eyes glide over the four comfortable beds placed against the circular wall. At the very end of the row of beds, next to the furthest of the two entrances, was the fourth stable dweller: a young woman with short black hair, practical traveler’s clothes and tall boots.

And she didn’t look too happy. A deep sigh escaped her at the moment Laya’s eyes caught her.

Laya curiously shut the notebook and got up from the table.

“Hello,” she said, halting nearby. “Everything okay?”

The woman watched her with morose eyes. “Have you gone to the giant castle north of here? That’s Hyrule Castle. It’s said to have fallen to ruin over a hundred years ago. I used to sneak in there to salvage ancient treasures, but it’s too dangerous to go in there now.” She rubbed the side of her head with her hand. “These days it’s surrounded by an eerie mist and savage machine-like creatures.”

“It used to be different?” Laya asked.

She nodded. “Back when it was safer, I went in looking for this ultra-rare equipment that once belonged to the royal guard. It’s legendary among collectors, but I was never able to find any…”

“I see… That’s too bad.” Laya crossed her arms, thinking of a way to cheer her up. “Well, I might go in there one day; maybe I could take some back for you.”

“You’re really going in there?” the girl asked, eyes widening. “Well, I’d be really grateful if you could show me a weapon…”

Laya raised the notebook and smiled. “I’ll write it down and see what I can do. Could I have your name?”

“Of course. It’s Parcy.”

So Laya returned to the table and got to writing again. She had no idea how long it would take for them to reach the castle, but it would be good if they could remember the request and bring some gear back for Parcy.

Indeed, wouldn’t it be nice if they could help out as many people as possible during their travels?

At the moment she exited the stable, Link popped back up from the shrine.

“Oh, hi!” Laya said, running up to meet him. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks!”

“What did you have to do?”

“Move a few metal boxes and form a bridge with a metal plate. What did you do?”

“Wrote down two requests.” She showed him the notebook. “But for both of them we have to visit Hyrule Castle… I thought maybe we can complete their requests once we get there.”

Link took the book, opened it on the first page and read the two favors Laya had written down. He smiled a little when he saw the title above the list: “Requests from the people we meet. Let’s help out!!!”

“Looks good.” He raised his gaze to meet hers. “We can keep it in mind when we’re finally inside.”

“Yep.” Laya gazed in the direction of the castle, but the building was hidden behind the Whistling Hill. Her eyes trailed across the northern horizon, past the distant mountainsides and nearby trees, and halted when they spotted something interesting. She pointed past Link’s shoulder. “And I believe I found ourselves another shrine.”

Link turned to look. There, all the way in the distance, behind low hills and tall trees, they could only just make out the orange shapes of another shrine. Trailing even further off course than they’d planned, they hastened towards it.

The shrine was positioned on a small sandbar, surrounded by a great number of colorful flowers.

“Wow, it’s beautiful!” Laya said, peering across the river. “This must be the sandbar Gotter mentioned.” After observing the streaming water by her feet, she sent Link a cheeky grin. “Good luck.” And with two flaps of her wings she was on the other side.

Link heaved an amused sigh and waded through the water towards her. Then he took the slate and opened the map. “This is called the Floret Sandbar.”

“Oh.” Laya brushed her palms together and summoned two flames. “Then I guess he meant another one. Here, let me dry you up again.” She held her hands near his body until his clothes were no longer dripping.

“Thanks,” he smiled. Then he made his way to the shrine, passing a Hylian woman who was watching the flowers from below a tree.

“So pretty in bloom!” she mused. Link stopped and gazed over his shoulder.

“Look!” she addressed him happily. “Aren’t they lovely? I wanted to see how the shrine would look with flowers around it, and it’s wonderful! Please, feel free to take a closer look. Just don’t step on them!”

Link nodded and approached the flowers.

“I’ll wait here for you,” Laya said, making her wings disappear. While Link tiptoed between the plants, Laya sat down cross-legged on the grass next to the woman and raised her eyes to her new companion. “Hello! Who are you?”

“I’m Magda,” the woman replied. “I’m the one who planted these gorgeous flowers! Don’t you think they look beautiful?”

“They do,” Laya nodded, wrapping her hands around her ankles and rocking back and forth a little. “Why don’t you tell me all about how you went to work while my friend defeats the shrine’s challenge?”

“If he can enter it,” Magda said skeptically, following Link’s figure suspiciously with her eyes. When Link hopped onto the shrine’s platform, held his slate against the pedestal and entered the shrine, she blinked. “Oh, I guess he can. Well, I wouldn’t mind humoring you with the interesting story behind my flowers.” And she sat down on the grass next to Laya.

All the time while Link was inside, Laya listened to Magda’s tale, which she couldn’t say was very interesting. It was about how Magda picked out the flowers, calculated where exactly to place them and how she took care of them until they’d grown to be as beautiful as they were now. After a few minutes, Link returned from the shrine, took the same careful route through the labyrinth and ended in front of the two ladies.

“And then, naturally, I had to make sure that these lovely little things—”

“Link! You’re back!” Laya said, hastily jumping to her feet and speed-walking towards him. “Good job, what was the challenge like?”

“I had to float on some rafts and destroy a wall."

“Wish I’d been there to see it. You have three orbs now, right? Are you much stronger than before?”

Link shook his head. “I have to trade them for power when I see a Goddess Statue.”

“Oh, right. Like you did once before, huh?” She was already excited to see that.

“Looks like you spent your time well?” he continued with a grin, eyes falling on Magda. The woman was practically fuming after Laya had cut her story short.

Laya cleared her throat and mumbled, “She’s trying to kill me with a look, isn’t she?”

There were twinkles in his eyes when he nodded.

“Guess I made an enemy.” Laya turned around and took a deep breath. “Magda! I am so sorry for not hearing the end of your story. Link and I really need to go now, though. So perhaps you can tell me some other time?”

And without listening to her response, Laya took Link’s wrist and pulled him to the edge of the water.

“Hey, there’s a raft here,” Link said, pointing to a small wooden boat with an old sail, nestled on the sandbar’s bank. He looked about him. “I don’t feel like getting my clothes wet again; if I could just…” He remembered chopping down trees and finding Korok leaves on the Great Plateau, so he took off to the other side of the bar, chopped at three trees with his rusty claymores—destroying two of them in the process—and returned with a big leaf. “This should do the job!” He hopped onto the boat and swung his fan in several directions. The blasts of air that erupted from his movements got caught in the sail, making the raft break loose from the shore and drift towards the other side of the river.

“You know I could just provide you with wind?” Laya said, flying over the water and landing next to his boat.

“I know,” Link said with a shrug, hopping off. “But me, a powerless being, has to know how to get places with the means I have.”

She laughed softly. “I guess that’s true.”

“Should we get back on our way to the Dueling Peaks?”

Laya nodded and the two travelled back south, passing the Riverside Stable. Before stepping onto the Owlan Bridge, they attacked a nearby Bokoblin camp and collected food, rupees, arrows, body parts, and an opal from the treasure chest. Then they crossed the river and followed the great mountains in the distance.

Once they’d exited the nameless woods behind the bridge and found a Korok on top of a square hill, they caught sight of the next tower. It stood near the foot of the Dueling Peaks’ northern half, blinking in the sun.

Laya gasped loudly when she spotted it. “There’s one! Let’s go!”

They ran along the northern bank of the river, which was the same side on which the tower waited. After sprinting several dozens of meters, they suddenly stumbled upon a monster hideout, in its familiar skull-shaped base.

For Laya, however, this was the first time she came across a den that looked like this. Though she’d spotted one in the broken camp near the forest in which she’d woken up, she hadn’t realized monsters used it to hide inside. So she happily skipped forward, not suspecting danger.

“Wait,” Link said suddenly, jumping in front of her and placing his hands on her shoulders. “There are monsters around.”

Laya blinked and looked about herself. “Really?”

He nodded and peeked over his shoulder. The nearest Bokoblin was standing guard on a rock beside the westwards streaming Squabble River. “Look there.”

Laya had to lean forward a bit to see it. “Ah, a bastard!” she whispered.

“Indeed.” He looked back at her and for a split second their noses almost touched. Laya immediately leaned back and straightened her tunic, while Link let go of her shoulders and took his bow from his back. “Let’s defeat them before they come after us.”

“Good idea.”

Link skulked a little closer to the Bokoblin watchman, defeated it with one quick shot and then claimed its position on the rock. When he turned towards the skull, he discovered that Laya had already flown up and was watching from above. He sent her a satisfied nod, took another arrow, aimed for one of the skull’s eyes and let go.

A huge explosion erupted from within, and several red Bokoblins tumbled out of their lair and dissolved into nothing, leaving behind horns and fangs. Link jumped down from his post and approached slowly, checking whether there were still others present.

Laya watched quietly as Link neared the mouth of the skull. Then he visibly jumped, and before he’d fully exchanged his bow for a sword, a blue Bokoblin came charging from inside.

Realizing the Bokoblin had caught Link off-guard, Laya came swooping down and sent a storm of rocks its way, blasting the creature from Link’s path. It vanished soon after, like the others had done.

“Thanks,” Link said, looking up as she hung still in front of him. “It suddenly popped up from beside the entrance.”

“I got your back,” Laya smiled.

A relieved and unexpectedly soft smile appeared on his face in return. “I’m glad.” And he entered the skull to collect the weapons and body parts. Laya had caught the sincerity in those two words and felt her chest warm up.

As they resumed their way to the tower, climbing the hill behind the skull, Laya said, “I didn’t know monster lairs looked like that. Thanks for the warning, or they would’ve seen me dance past their entrance.”

He chuckled softly. “They would’ve been too surprised to attack for sure.”

“That would be great,” Laya laughed. “Maybe I can defeat our next opponent with a pirouette.”

“If you do, you’re gonna have to teach me the tactics.”

Laya giggled. “I will. Speaking of which: you’re really skilled with all kinds of weapons, huh? Do you know where you learned how to fight?”

Link shook his head and looked at his hands. “I think at the castle, since I used to be a knight there. My body still knows the moves after a hundred years, it seems.”

“That’s really cool,” Laya said sincerely. “And probably convenient for the road ahead…”

“You don’t think you used to fight?” Link asked. “You seem to know pretty well how to handle your enemies, too.”

Laya’s eyes began to sparkle. “You think so? I don’t really know if I do what I do because I’m familiar with the movements or just because I think it’ll help.” She giggled again. “It actually feels like I just do whatever, but it works so far! I’d love to be better though. Think you could teach me some sword-fighting sometime?”

“Sure, why not,” Link smiled. “It’s too bad you can’t teach me what you can do.”

“Truly! Maybe we’ll find a way somehow. Until then I’m afraid we’re gonna have to stick to pirouettes.”

Then they heard a weird noise, and realized they were not alone.

“Ah, the camp ran further than we thought.” Laya flexed her fingers. “But I think I’ll play it safe for now and save the dancing for later.”

Link took his sword from his back. “Sad, but understandable!”

There were five more Bokoblins in total, and the two charged forward with various weapons. Once the place was monster-free again, they collected all the items—including a seared steak that Link was very happy with—and trailed on to the edge of the precipice.

Now they were pretty much face to face with the tower.

“Phew,” Laya huffed, raising her eyes all the way to the top. “I can’t get used to how majestic they are.”

“Agreed.” Link looked over the edge to the base, where two large rocks were leaning against the tower’s lower platforms.

“Hey, you said the tower gives a part of the map to the slate, right?” Laya asked.

“That’s right.”

“Should I fly up there and put the slate in it?”

Upon hearing that, Link looked a little reluctant. “Well, I guess that’s the easiest way.” He took the slate from his hip and gave it to her. “Alright then.”

“Be right back.”

When she arrived at the top of the tower and tried to press the slate in the pedestal, nothing happened. She hummed and tried again, but as much as she pushed and twisted, it wouldn’t work. She smiled in herself, sort of relieved that it _wasn’t_ this easy, and returned to Link’s side. “Looks like the slate only works in the hands of the chosen one,” she said after her landing, returning the device. “You have to do it.”

A wide smile spread over Link’s face, and Laya beamed when she saw it.

“Here I go!” He jumped from the slope, opened his paraglider and glided towards the tallest of the two rocks, after which he gripped the side of the tower and started climbing up. Now and then he had to stop on one of the platforms because his stamina couldn’t keep up, but soon he arrived at the top. Laya ascended and halted in the air next to the platform, while Link approached the pedestal with the slate in his hand.

 _Sheikah Tower activated_ , said the pedestal.

This was the first time Laya witnessed the awakening of a tower, and it was a sight to behold. Three mechanisms on the roof flipped upwards, as a wave of blue replaced the previous orange light in the stem, flowing from the bottom to the top. After the tower’s color had completely changed, a circle in the platform’s floor came to life and shone with a similar bright blue.

Laya quickly landed next to Link to see what would happen to the slate.

The pedestal talked again.

_Scanning area…_

On the stalactite above the pedestal appeared blue letters, which flowed down to the eye on the tip. Below the eye appeared a teardrop that fell on the Sheikah Slate, triggering it to come to life and open the map’s contents. A huge new area was revealed: they could see the tower, the Dueling Peaks, winding roads—and the yellow point to which they were heading. The stable and the nearby shrine which they had frequented apparently lied in a different part of the map, since they were still in a dark blue area. The Floret Sandbar, however, was now fully visible.

_Regional map extracted. Sheikah Slate updated. Additional functionality detected._

A small blue square popped into view. It contained the image of a small pillar surrounded by three blue rings, as if they radiated from the pillar’s top. The words “Sheikah Sensor” were placed above it, and below it it said, “Searching for Shrines.”

 _Sheikah Sensor acquired_ , the pedestal spoke, _You can enable or disable the Sheikah Sensor on the map screen_.

Then the sensor shrunk into a tiny symbol and placed itself in the bottom right corner of the screen. The pedestal returned the slate and Link took it out.

 _Sheikah Sensor now operational. Search for shrines in the direction with the strongest signal._ And all was silent again.

“Wow, so it can detect shrines now?” Laya said. “That’s so useful!”

Link nodded. “This is going to help a lot.”

“So, is there one close by?” Laya asked, basically bouncing with curiosity.

“It appears so. It’s glowing blue and saying ‘Shrine nearby.’”

“Nice! And speaking of glowing blue…” Laya pointed to the circle at the edge of the platform. “What does that spot do?”

Link looked over his shoulder. “Oh, that means I can travel to it with the Sheikah Slate. Every shrine or tower that I conquer has it.”

Laya blinked. “Really? By some sort of teleportation?”

Link nodded. “Exactly.”

“So you can travel to all towers and shrines that you’ve reached before?”

“Yep.”

“I see…” For a moment Laya was occupied with the thought of visiting the Great Plateau with Link, but she quickly shook it off. They had just reached the new tower and opened an entire unknown area; now was not the time to stray from their mission. Besides, there was another shrine in view!

“That’s fantastic,” Laya said, clenching her fists. “Let’s find the next one then!”

They wandered over the platform until they’d pinpointed the right direction to the shrine’s location, which appeared to be somewhere between the Dueling Peaks.

The two gazed up, to the tops of the mountains.

“Nicely split,” Laya commented.

“Sure is,” Link agreed.

They locked eyes, nodded, jumped, and soared towards the chasm.


	9. Talks Below the Peaks

The Dueling Peaks were incredibly majestic, and Laya couldn’t stop staring up through the schism as they shuffled along a ledge on the northern wall. Link picked rushrooms and destroyed ore deposits as they went, until they rounded a small corner and arrived at the orange Ree Dahee Shrine.

“There we go,” Laya said, gesturing to the building with both hands. “And that’s a hilarious name if you ask me.”

Link stepped to the entrance and pressed the slate against the pedestal. “See you in a minute.”

“I’ll stand guard,” Laya nodded with crossed arms.

Once Link had disappeared in the shrine, she turned around and scanned her surroundings. Below her ran the lively Squabble River, with two indiscernible creatures swimming downstream. Curious as always, Laya dropped down the ledge and approached the waterside. The beasts spotted her, croaked, and came over with a speed that made her believe they weren’t in for a casual chat.

“Okay, not friendly either…” Laya withdrew to the wall and prepared her magic. The fight was over soon, and she stooped to pick up some new items: two horns and a talon.

Then she gazed upstream and spotted a far-off enemy camp on the northern shore, with a chest on a high platform.

She put the items in her pockets and sprinted along the river until she could hear the monsters’ chattering sounds. Crouching like she’d seen Link do before attacking the monsters in the skull, she advanced carefully, hid behind a large rock and peeked over the stony surface. Around this camp, too, were several bomb barrels, and knowing what to do with them she activated a small flame in her left palm, placed her other hand behind it, aimed for one of the barrels and launched the flame with her forefinger.

The little flying flare hit the vat in the center and it exploded in a cloud of fire, triggering the others to do the same. The Bokoblins flew to the sides and disappeared, all except for a blue one. Laya jumped from behind the boulder and defeated it.

Soon the camp was empty, aside from some burning weapons and body parts. The purple eyes in the chest turned yellow, and Laya climbed onto the platform.

The chest contained a lovely brown boomerang. She clutched it in her hands as she jumped from the elevation and raised her eyes to the wall. Following it all the way westwards, she discovered that she’d wandered pretty far from the shrine: it was only a small orange building from out here. It would probably be best if she returned to Link and didn’t stray much further from where he was.

Suddenly a low voice boomed through her mind: _don’t stray further than necessary._

She froze.

Feeling her heart hammer with a peculiar sense of dread, she furrowed her brow and blinked. A million questions rushed to her mind, but she couldn’t answer any of them. Had anyone ever told her not to stray further—further from _what_? She didn’t recognize the voice, but then why did it leave her with such an uneasy feeling?

For the first, at most the second time since she’d woken up, she’d caught a glimpse of a reality from a time before that forest. She vaguely recalled how strict that rule had been; the echo had left a huge impact on her, after all. Had she not been allowed to move away from her position? Had she been constricted?

She tried to pick her mind for a few more minutes, but didn’t receive any other clues than that commanding voice. It was weird how recalling it almost _scared_ her. There had definitely been something interesting going on…

In any case, she needed to get back to Link.

As she left the monster camp behind, she noticed that the orange veins on the shrine had turned to blue, which meant that Link had succeeded. She ran on, looking forward to seeing him again—but was surprised to hear his voice call out with worry:

“Laya?! Where are you?!”

She hurried to the ledge and halted below the wall. Link stood outside the shrine and had a look on his face that she’d never seen before. “Hello Link!”

His gaze fell on her, and the relief that washed over his features was immense.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly. “Are you hurt?”

He shook his head and placed a hand in his hair. “I just didn’t know where you were.”

Laya tilted her head in reply. “I was just down the river… Did it worry you not to find me here?”

He seemed a bit conflicted. “I believe so…”

“I see…” Laya wasn’t sure what to say, but thought it would be best to try and comfort him. “Well, you know I can protect myself, so there’s really no need to worry!”

“I’m…” Link held his own hands and looked at his feet. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Laya watched him in silence. Clearly there was something bothering him. “You’re not angry, are you?”

He met her eyes and quickly shook his head again. “No, why would I be? Somehow I just…feared something had happened to you. There were monsters in the river when we arrived.”

“Yeah, I defeated those.” She reached in her pockets and took out all the items she’d collected. “And I beat a monster camp down the river, too.”

Link smiled weakly and prepared to jump from the ledge. “So that’s what you were doing.” He opened his paraglider and landed next to her.

Now at the same eye level again, Laya handed him the items and studied his face one more time. “Please tell me what’s wrong? Were you scared I left?”

“No, that’s not it I think…” Link took the materials and stuffed them away. “I don’t really get it myself. I know you’re probably safer than me when we’re attacked, and yet…” He sighed. “I couldn’t help it. It felt like I _had_ to worry about you, or that I _should_ worry about you, or that I _have_ been worried about you and therefore should be again… I don’t know how to explain it.”

Laya was quiet as she thought about that. Link seemed a little miffed with himself.

“I know it’s weird, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not,” Laya answered quickly and she gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s kind of sweet, in a way. I was just thinking that perhaps it could be something you experienced before.”

“Worrying about you?”

She nodded. “Or about someone else you lost.”

He furrowed his brow in thought. “You mean sometime in the past?”

“Exactly.” Laya turned to the east and they began to stride along the riverbank. “As I prepared to return to you, I had a weird feeling myself. There was a voice in my head telling me not to stray further than necessary, but I didn’t recognize it and I have no idea what he was talking about.”

He watched her curiously. “A voice? One you heard before?”

“I think so, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember who it belongs to.” She shook her head. “And the message was so weird… Wasn’t I allowed to go too far from where I was? Or was I perhaps…” Her voice grew quiet, unsure how to continue.

“Stuck?” Link finished for her.

She thought about that for a moment, humming softly. “Yes, but somehow I feel like it was a deal, get what I mean? As if I voluntarily accepted the command, albeit a bit reluctantly. And I think I was afraid of the person who told me that… I pretty much froze with fear when I heard him.”

“I see…” Link crossed his arms and studied the rocky beach below their feet. “Who could it have been?”

“I really don’t know.” Laya sighed. “But I wonder if our feelings stem from the same time period.”

“Me too…”

There came a _beep_ from Link’s hip.

“Hm?” Laya looked at his belt.

“Another shrine nearby.” He took the device to check the sensor’s signal. “Looks like we’re going the right way.”

“Great!”

They neared the cooking pot that introduced the Bokoblin camp.

“This is where I was,” Laya said. “I used your famous explode-the-bomb-barrels tactic! It worked tremendously. There are still some weapons lying about, as you can see. Oh, and I forgot this!” She quickly took out the wooden boomerang and proudly showed him. “The treasure from the chest! Think you can use it?”

Link took the weapon to examine it. “It’s nice! Though I don’t think it’s stronger than the things I carry right now.”

“Oh, I see,” Laya said, a bit sad that her achievement hadn’t brought him anything useful. “That’s too bad! I kinda like it.”

He studied her face for a moment, catching the disappointed glint in her eyes that he knew she was trying to hide. Then he presented the boomerang in front of her. “Why don’t you keep it?”

She blinked. “Me? But I have no idea how to handle weapons.”

“I’d teach you, wouldn’t I?” The smile on his face was incredibly kind, and Laya felt something twitch in her chest. “This looks like a good one to start with. It’s light and practical.”

Laya hummed and observed the boomerang for a second. "Alright," she said then, convinced by the assuring look in his eyes. Accepting the weapon with both hands, she actually felt her mood improve. “Thanks!”

There was a warm tone in Link’s voice when he said, “No need. You’re the one who retrieved it, after all.”

A big smile lit up her face, and seeing it lifted Link's spirits. “That’s true!” She placed the boomerang in its sheath and strung it around her shoulder, so that it was placed on her back. “Okay! Then let’s travel on!”

After Link had checked out all the weapons left on the battlefield, he clambered back onto a second ledge and destroyed a few more ore deposits. Like this they continued east through the left: Link on the wall and Laya beside the river.

Eventually they reached the end of the chasm.

“Another stable!” Laya exclaimed in surprise.

“Really?” Link said, unable to see it from where he was. He sprinted forward and halted. “Oh!”

They both stepped a bit further…

“And the shrine!”

It was built in the center of a small pool, a couple of meters away from a waterfall that fell down from the slope of the northern peak.

Link destroyed one last ore deposit before placing himself on the rim of the ledge. Laya halted at the waterside, studying the plants that grew around the shrine’s base.

“Look like thorns.” She gazed up at Link. “Be careful.”

“I should be able to get there from here.” He opened his paraglider, sailed to the shrine and landed exactly on the travel gate. He nodded to Laya and held his slate to the pedestal.

“I’ll be at the stable if you’ve lost me,” Laya smiled.

Link sent her a sheepish grin, before entering the Ha Dahamar Shrine.

Laya chuckled softly and trotted around the pool in the direction of the tent, but halted in surprise when she spotted Beedle trudging over the path, bent over by the weight of his backpack. How in the world had he gotten here before them?

“Hey Beedle!” she called, approaching him.

“Oh, hiiiiiiiiiiiiii! We meet again!” Beedle cheerfully pulled the small table down from above his head. “What are you looking for? Or are you selling?”

“I…” Laya pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. “Weren’t you at the Riverside Stable just now?”

The happy expression on his face didn't change. “I told you you could find me all over Hyrule!”

Laya furrowed her brow, now even more confused than before. Something seemed to click in her mind, though she wasn't sure if she was happy about it. “Are you telling me you’re…there _and_ here?”

Suddenly Beedle's smile transformed into a strange smirk and he lowered his head, his eyes still locked on hers. “Perhaps.”

That was as good a confirmation as any, and goosebumps rose to her neck. She cleared her throat and took a step back. “I see. Cool. Cool. Okay. Thanks. Then I’ll talk to you later.”

The smile returned as if nothing had happened. “Hope to see you around!”

“Yeah… Alright.” She shook her head, suppressed a shiver and continued to the stable.

There were several people about again, and the first ones that caught her eye were the two men at the front. One of them was standing behind the counter—the owner, likely—and the other between the counter and the right entrance. They wore the same gear as Ember and Gotter at the Riverside Stable, though the hats and jackets of these guys were red instead of blue. They also had bright green eyes and impressive moustaches. Laya guessed they were twins.

The right guy waved at her. “I can give you directions!” So she approached him first.

“Welcome to Dueling Peaks Stable!” he said, smiling widely. “What do you think of the place? Pretty nice, yeah? It might be hard to imagine now, but this place was nearly destroyed about 100 years ago. However, thanks to the blessings of the Dueling Peaks, everything is full of life again. Even the wild horses are back. There’s a lot of energy in this place! So where are you heading? Both Kakariko Village and Hateno Village are nearby.”

But something else had piqued Laya’s interest. “Wild horses?”

“Huh?” The man pressed a hand to his chin. “Did you not see any horses on your way here? Certainly not as many as years past, but there are still quite a few around… Horses in the wild are…well, wild! No one has trained or cared for them. If you manage to catch one, let my brother Tasseren know. He’ll register the horse for you! My boys are wellsprings of information about horses, so feel free to pick their brains. Leave it to Rensa to tell you about the roads around this area.”

“Alright, thank you,” Laya said. “So how about Kakariko Village?”

Rensa nodded. “Kakariko Village is the village where the Sheikah clan lives. It’s said that, some time ago, they had advanced techniques that were more powerful than anything anyone had seen. But that power put them at odds with the king at the time, and they were scattered across the land…”

“Is that so?” Laya asked with big eyes. “How interesting!”

“Indeed it is! Anyway, if you leave here and follow the road straight ahead to the north, you’ll find a big bridge. Cross that and keep following the path, and you’ll come to the Kakariko Village gate. Leave it to Rensa to tell you about the roads around this area.”

“Okay, thanks a lot. And Hateno Village?”

“Hateno Village is a village on the edge of Hyrule. It was largely unaffected by the events of the Great Calamity, so the people there are pretty easygoing. I hear they even have a research center… But folks tend to avoid the weird scientist who lives there… Anyway, head north from here until you reach a fork in the road. Then go east and just follow the road. It’s a little far if you walk it, but with a horse, you should get there in under a day! Leave it to Rensa to tell you about the roads around this area.”

Laya grinned when he’d repeated that for the third time. “I’m good now, thank you!”

Rensa nodded again. “Everything looks just as it always has, but the effects of the Great Calamity still linger. For example, a lot of monsters come out at night, so be careful when the sun sets.”

“I understand,” Laya said with a bow of her head. “Thanks again!”

Tasseren, Rensa’s brother, didn’t have anything new to tell her, so she moved on to the guy who stood a couple meters away from the stable, looking down and humming with a contemplative expression.

She placed herself beside him. “Hello sir.”

The guy jumped slightly and met her eyes. The shock on his face disappeared pretty much straight away. “Oh, sorry… I didn’t notice you… I was a bit lost in thought there. I’ve been doing rigorous research day and night to figure out the mystery of that blood moon.”

“Blood moon?” Laya asked, involuntarily looking at the sky.

“You don’t know it?” the man, who was called Hino, asked in surprise. “That’s inexcusable. Listen up and I’ll tell you about it. For 100 years now, every so often when the clock strikes midnight, the sky turns red and a full moon rises… At that moment, monsters that had been previously defeated will come back to life.” Laya furrowed her brow. Hino, in contrast, beamed. “And that’s what is known as the blood moon! Why do the monsters return to life? Why does it only happen when the sky turns red? No one really has the answers to those questions. It’s a mysterious phenomenon… If you learn anything about the blood moon as you travel, be sure to come back and tell me.”

Laya pulled a face. “Sure thing.” But she hoped there wasn’t going to be a blood moon while she and Link traveled the land. Wouldn’t it be the worst if all the monsters came back to life after the two of them had worked so hard to defeat them?

She shook her head and prepared to return to the stable, but halted when Link came running from the shrine.

“Hey!” Laya said cheerfully. “You’re getting quicker at this. I haven’t talked to everyone yet.”

“Who did you talk to?” Link asked.

Laya pointed. “Rensa next to the counter, who told me about the nearby villages. He said that the Sheikah tribe lives in Kakariko! Did you know there was trouble between the tribe and the king at some point in the past, which is why the Sheikah became scattered across the kingdom? So interesting! Anyway, I also spoke to this guy here…” She gestured to the Hylian a few meters away from her. “And he said something about a blood moon that brings all the monsters back to life… He said it started 100 years ago.”

Link looked at the man, who at that moment muttered to himself, “Tonight…”

“And of course there’s a second Beedle…” Laya continued in a mumble. “Which is weird.”

“I saw him, yeah.” Link scratched his head. “No idea how that’s possible.”

“Right?” Laya took a deep breath and decided to change the subject. “I haven’t found any new requests, though! Except for the blood moon man who would like for us to tell him anything new we discover about, you know, the blood moon. Wanna head inside and see what’s there?”

Link nodded and they entered the stable, where two guys were busy discussing something.

“I bet it’s over there!” one of the two argued.

“Hrm…” the other hummed in reply.

Laya halted when she heard soft footsteps following her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Tasseren had moved to the indoor side of the counter, making himself available in case they wanted to rest. It was likely that Ember had done the same back at the Riverside Stable, though she hadn’t noticed it at all.

Link, meanwhile, had halted near the guys, ready to hear out what was going on.

“I’ve got the scoop on Misko’s treasure, and it’s great!” the guy on the right said. “Listen up, Dak…”

Dak replied, “Prissen, hang on!” He glared at Link, and Prissen looked as well. “Hey, buddy! What’s your problem? You aren’t being incredibly rude and listening to our conversation, are you?”

“We’re treasure hunters, on the trail of our latest score…” Prissen told him eagerly. “The treasure of the great bandit Misko! It’s as good as ours!”

“Prissen!” Dak hissed. “You’re going to give it all away!”

Prissen hung is shoulders. “Sorry, Dak… I got carried away.”

An angry glare lay in Dak’s eyes again. “Anyway, we’re busy here, dude. If you need something, take it up with someone else.”

Laya, at that point, joined the one-sided conversation. “Hello!”

“I see you brought a friend,” Dak said gloomily. “Pay no mind to my little bro’s chatter from before. He’s got a penchant for running his mouth with crazy talk.”

“So… Misko’s treasure?” Link inquired.

“Treasure?” Laya repeated curiously.

“Ahhh shoot,” Dak groaned. “Welp. Can’t say I didn’t try to throw them off.”

Prissen looked at him. “Hey, Dak… Why don’t we just tell them? Maybe they’ll leave us alone if we do. I mean, if we can’t figure this riddle out, there’s no way people like them will be able to.”

Dak pursed his lips. “…That’s a good point.” And he spilled. “We’re after nothing less than the treasure of Misko, the Great Bandit! Finding it would mean incredible riches… I’m not about to give this information for free. I’m no fool!”

Prissen proudly clenched his fists. “That’s the keen sense of the strongest treasure hunter at work! No gold left behind—not by Domidak! You’re great, Dak!”

“It’ll be hundred rupees to learn what we know,” Domidak said sternly. “Truth is, it’d be a steal to get this exclusive scoop for 1.000 rupees… So what do you say?”

“Do we have 100 rupees?” Laya asked Link.

He peered into his pouch and shook his head.

“Too bad.” Laya pointed to the brothers. “Stay here!”

The duo left the stable, performed a quick trade with Beedle II and returned to the twins, where Link handed them the money.

Domidak smirked. “Heh. Good deal.”

“Way to go, Dak. You did it!” his proud brother spoke.

Then Domidak gave them the riddle: “‘The little twin steps over the little river. My cave rests above that river’s source.’ Misko hid the location of the treasure in some kind of strange secret code. I heard this from a former dog walker of one of Misko’s underling’s descendant’s neighbors. As solid a lead as any.”

“Just knowing someone with good intel like that? Exactly what I’d expect from you, Dak!”

Link and Laya glanced at each other, withstood the urge to roll their eyes and thanked the men.

“So, ‘little twin steps over the little river’,” Laya said, opening the notebook and trying to write down the details as they stepped outside. “In a cave, huh?”

Link was already studying the map. “The twin bridges…” He came to a halt and Laya automatically stopped as well. She leaned in curiously as he pointed at the cross-roads south of the stable. “Maybe these two over here are the steps he talked about? If so, then the cave is probably…” He followed the river with his finger, all the way down. “Over there.”

“That must be it!” Laya raised her eyes and met his. “How about a little trip off-course? I would love to show those boys that ‘people like us’ are very capable of solving riddles.”

“I’m in. Let’s go.”

They moved south and went on their way to the river’s source, crossing the two bridges and entering a new landscape. As they journeyed, they uncovered more treasure, defeated more annoying creatures and found more items, making sure to check under the smallest rock and in the tallest tree to increase their supply. After climbing and descending a rocky hill, they arrived at Hickaly Woods, where they not only found another Korok, but also a big, unfriendly bear.

“Well, look at that,” Laya commented dryly, as the bear went to stand on its hind legs and towered before them. “Uhm, we’re just here to find some treasure, nothing more!”

“I think we should get out of here…” Link began, right when the bear dropped back on its front paws and charged forward. Laya immediately spread her wings and flew to the side, while Link dodged the bear athletically and sprinted westwards. “Head for the river!” he called over his shoulder.

The bear had chosen Link as its victim and chased with speed, its heavy feet thudding on the earth. Laya, worried about Link’s safety, grabbed a couple of acorns and hurled them at the bear’s head. It was a hit and the beast slipped to a halt, glared over its shoulder, spotted Laya and changed targets.

“Good plan, Laya!” she whispered before turning on her heels and racing east, leading the bear away from Link. She flew over a giant, weird-looking skeleton, raised herself up and headed for the river in a vertical curve. Then she sped up, zigzagged between the trees in order to lose the animal and arrived at the water, where Link was waiting for her on one of three ice pillars.

“Let’s go!” he called, creating another pillar in front of him and jumping in the direction of the river’s source. After four more pillars they reached the end of the stream, where a steep rock wall blocked the way. A small waterfall clattered down from above.

Link hopped onto a little island in front of it and picked up the rock lying there, summoning a Korok. Then he collected the four blue mushrooms growing nearby and stopped at the island’s edge.

“It should be around here somewhere,” Laya said, scouring the wall with her eyes. “Maybe it’s up?”

After creating and hopping onto one last block of ice, Link put the Sheikah Slate on his hip, latched onto the wall and climbed up with a steady pace.

As he scaled the rocks, trying to avoid holds that had been touched and dampened by the waterfall, he picked up more silent shrooms. Above him, Laya settled on a ledge atop the falls and let her legs dangle over the edge, watching Link approach.

“There’s a fragile wall up here,” she told him, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. “This could be it.”

Link jumped the last meter and scrambled to the top. Spotting the blocked opening Laya had been talking about, he took the slate from his hip, activated a cubic bomb and placed it in front of the obstruction.

“Cool,” Laya said, peeping over his shoulder. “That’s gonna open the way for us?”

“Yep, so we’d better not be right next to it.” Link took her hand and pulled her to the side, after which he took the slate again. “Watch out.” He pointed the device at the cube and the bomb exploded, blasting the wall to pieces in the process.

“Your slate can do so many weird things,” Laya said as they made for the wide cave that had been revealed. “Like you said, it’s basically magic.”

They found five chests filled with gem stones, three delicious-looking toasted hearty truffles, a soldier’s spear, two barrels which contained a seared steak and a roasted bird drumstick—and another fragile wall.

“Do the bomb thing again!” Laya said eagerly, jumping to the other side of the cave. Link took a second cube, placed it near the rocks, joined Laya in her safe space and detonated it.

Behind the wall was one last chest, which contained a flameblade.

“Wow,” Laya said, receiving the object from Link so she could observe it. “A fire weapon! I had no idea such a thing exists.” She handed it back to Link, who dropped his newly acquired soldier’s spear in order to add the flameblade to his inventory. “Now we can both battle with fire!”

“Yep." He placed the blade on his back. “Now let’s go back to the stable and show those guys.”

On the return journey, however, the slate guided them towards the sixth shrine. While Link defeated the challenge, Laya made use of the opportunity to explore Hickaly Woods and beat every single monster she came across. Again, she arrived later at the entrance of the shrine than Link, but this time he was waiting patiently for her on the steps.

She didn’t miss the concerned and distracted look on his face, however, so she apologized for making him wait again. He immediately pretended that he hadn’t been worried and gratefully received the items she’d collected on her little adventure.

When they returned to the stable, they showed off their bounty to the brothers, who steadfastly refused to believe Link and Laya had found the treasure before them. They exited the tent chuckling heartily, ready to devise their next course of action.

It was their rumbling stomachs that decided what that course was going to be: cooking dinner.

“Man, I can’t believe we forgot to have lunch,” Laya groaned as she flopped down on one of the stools beside the cooking pot. Link was already fishing ingredients from his pockets. “Even though I used to be so hungry all the time. Adventuring is just so exciting it makes you forget stuff like food, huh? It’s getting dark already.”

“Adventurers?” asked the young woman sitting on a second stool. Laya had seen her upon her arrival but hadn’t spoken to her yet. “Don’t see a whole lot of travelers passing through here. I’m Sagessa.”

“Nice to meet you,” Laya replied. “I’m Laya, and this is Link.”

“Pleasure! You know, I’m a traveler too.”

“Really? How nice! We only started yesterday, so we’re not very experienced yet.”

“I see,” Sagessa smiled. “You know, with how peaceful it is around here, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the world almost ended years ago. But there are still monsters wandering around, and the area near Hyrule Castle is especially dangerous. If you’re going to be traveling, you should know a thing or two about elixirs.”

“Elixirs?” Laya repeated, as Link threw a bunch of items into the cooking pot.

Sagessa nodded. “You can make elixirs by mixing bugs and other small creatures with monster parts. Most of them are no good for refilling your health, but they can have a lot of unique effects… Some elixirs can increase your speed… Others raise your resistance to extreme temperatures. I’m actually impressed that you’ve made it this far without any knowledge of elixirs.”

“Is that so? Hmm, I guess we’ve been finding our way with other means.”

“If that’s the case, I’m sure you’ll do fine on the road. Though I can’t have it on my conscience if something happens to you from here, so I’ll give you one of mine.” She reached into her bag and took out a small glass bottle with a bright blue liquid. “Using a hasty elixir increases your run speed,” she continued, handing it to Laya, “so I use it to escape from enemies or any time I need to hurry. The recipe is just hightail lizard and monster parts, so I usually have a stock of ten or so on hand.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.” Laya peered inside the bottle and examined the shining drink, before lowering it and looking at Sagessa. “Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it. Travelers should help each other out.” Then she leaned closer and softly spoke, “By the way… Have you noticed it’s mostly twins here at this stable? It’s kind of creeping me out.”

Laya blinked and turned around. She registered two little boys attending the horses, remembered the two brothers at the counter and thought of the two treasure hunting brothers inside.

“Now that you mention it,” Laya mumbled. “That _is_ a little weird.”

“I know right?” Sagessa squeaked. “Freaky as what.”

Laya raised her eyes to the tops of the mountains. “Maybe the Dueling Peaks attract twins?”

“Maybe,” Sagessa nodded. “Even the nearby bridges are twins.”

“And I thought the second Beedle was the strangest thing I was gonna encounter today,” Laya sighed, putting the elixir away.

“You’ll find that this kingdom is full of secrets. One of them is the multiplying merchant.” Sagessa glanced at Beedle. “He’s absolutely everywhere.”

Laya swallowed and followed Beedle with her eyes as he made for the stable. “Not very consoling…”

By now a delicious smell was whirling up from the cooking pot. Link was stirring the food, humming softly.

“Mmm, Top Chef Link strikes again.” Laya leaned forward so she could take a closer look. “What’s it gonna be?”

“Salt-grilled fish.” He looked at Sagessa. “Would you like some, too?”

The girl raised her hands. “No, thanks. I’ve already eaten.”

Link nodded and took some plates from his bag. Before long they were both gobbling down their meals, emptying their plates with a speed that made Sagessa blink with astonishment.

When they finished, Sagessa lit the lantern on the side of her backpack and got up.

“Well,” she said, “I’m going to watch the shrine. Enjoy your night!” And she strolled over to the water.

The two sat in peaceful silence for a few minutes, with nothing but the sound of the crackling fire in the background. Wait, no. There was another sound as well.

“Do you hear that?” Laya asked. It was a soft rattling noise, and quite familiar, too.

Link tilted his head and listened carefully. “It sounds a bit like a Korok.”

“It does?” Laya perked up. “Do you see it anywhere?”

The two looked about themselves until Link spotted something at the end of the long nose belonging to the giant horse on the stable’s roof.

“There!”

Laya turned around, but didn’t see the creature. “Where?”

“Allow me.” Link got up and trotted to the side of the stable, latched onto the wall and clambered up. Laya watched with amusement as he struggled to scale the horse, ropes and wooden protrusions blocking him and messing up his pace. Eventually he’d managed to reach the top of the head and he strutted down to the nose’s tip, where a little branch with a twirling fan was stuck into a red sheet covering the horse’s face. After examining it for a bit, the small Korok popped into view.

Laya laughed as Link jumped from the stable and sailed back to the fire with his paraglider.

“Good job,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it any smoother.”

Link stuck out his tongue. “I know.”

Laya giggled softly. Then she raised her eyes to the darkening sky and sighed contentedly. “It’s so nice at these stables… Everything feels so peaceful and safe. Monster-less and danger-less.”

Link hummed in agreement.

“It must be about 8:00 or 9:00 PM or so? I guess we’ll sleep here tonight, huh?” She stretched out her hands to let the flames below the cooking pot heat her palms. “Nice and warm…”

Link took off his boots and crossed his ankles near the burning wood, warming his feet.

They sat like that for a couple of minutes, as the stars appeared above their heads.

“Link?” Laya asked eventually. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Are you worried?”

He was quiet for a moment. “About you?”

“No, no,” Laya said quickly. “About…everything in general, really.”

Link lowered his eyes to the fire, clasping his hands together. “I guess,” he said after some time. “But I’d probably be more worried if I remembered everything.”

“That makes sense I guess…” Laya studied him with somber eyes. “I truly wonder why we’ve both lost our memories, and not just you or just me. It doesn’t seem like anyone else in Hyrule has forgotten who they are, so… What happened to us that made it so?”

He slowly met her gaze. “I wonder…”

“Maybe it was the sleeping,” Laya continued in a grumpy mumble. “Maybe we slept too long and lost some brain cells in the process.”

He chuckled softly. “Could be.”

Laya thought for a moment, and then felt a weak smile tug at the corners of her mouth. “What if we suddenly regain our memories and discover that we were enemies? That would be wild.”

“Hmm.” Link poked the fire with a stick. “I don’t think I’d like that.”

Laya shook her head. “No, me neither.” She stretched her arms between her knees and looked at Link over her right shoulder. “I already consider you a friend, even though we’ve only known each other for two days.”

Their eyes met, and the warmth in Link’s expression told Laya that he felt the same.

“Besides,” Link said then, a sudden grin breaking through. “I’d be in immense trouble if you turned out to be my enemy.”

Laya raised her eyebrows. “Why’s that?”

“I wouldn’t be able to beat someone who can conjure fire out of thin air.”

She laughed. “Not so sure about that. I don’t think I’d stand any chance against you if I couldn’t fly! I have no technical skill whatsoever, but you can evade and block and charge without even knowing where you learned it. I just…” She waved her hand through the air in front of her, “throw stuff, I guess.”

That made him laugh as well.

“Not to forget you can halt objects and make actual bombs with that slate of yours.” Laya nodded to his hip. “You’re a marvel.”

He sent her a smile. “Look who’s talking.”

Laya felt a heat creep to her cheeks and quickly lowered her eyes to the fire.

They were quiet for a while, letting the flames warm their hands and feet. Laya gazed to the shrine, where Sagessa was still motionlessly watching the shining blue structure.

“I’m gonna see what’s up with her.” She placed her hands on her knees, got up and approached Sagessa.

“Ahh. This is the life,” the woman sighed.

“Hello,” Laya greeted, halting next to her. “You okay there?”

Sagessa turned her face to Laya and nodded. “That shrine only recently started glowing, but it’s been there for something like 10.000 years.”

Laya blinked wildly. “ _10.000_ years?”

“It sometimes feels like there’s a shrine sleeping behind every hill, there’s so many of them,” Sagessa continued with a hand on her chin. “Archaeologists get pretty fired up hunting down each one of them, but I haven’t got time for mysteries… Still, looking at that glowing light…you do start to see something romantic about the whole endeavor.”

Laya’s gaze trailed to the shrine. 10.000 years… That was a really long time. Both the shrines and towers emanated this ancient aura—but Laya didn’t know how old the towers were; Link just said they’d been build ages ago. There was something incredibly interesting about them, for sure.

She thanked Sagessa for the talk and returned to Link. “She said that those shrines are 10.000 years old! Can you imagine? That’s literally…10.000 years.”

“Really?” Link said as Laya sat back down on her stool. “Then I guess they were built around the same time as the towers and Divine Beasts. The king _did_ say the shrines started glowing when I activated the tower, so they might be connected.”

“That’s interesting… I can’t believe those things have been around for so long, waiting all quietly to be awakened again. Clearly they were made to stay intact for a while.” She stuck out her hands to warm her palms again and looked at Link. “Have you…heard from Princess Zelda ever since she spoke to you?”

He shook his head.

“I see…that’s too bad. It would be nice to know someone’s looking out for you.”

Link nodded, setting his elbow on his knee and letting his chin rest in his palm. “But I wish I could just head straight to the castle to help her.” He stared at the fire. “There’s just so much we have to do first…”

“Truly… We’d probably not survive if we confronted that monster now.”

“And then Zelda won’t be able to contain him either.”

“Yep.” Laya sighed. “In other words: gotta keep going.”

Link nodded again, not saying anything. They didn’t speak for some time, until Laya raised her eyes to the sky, ready to comment on the beauty of the stars.

But there were no stars to be seen.

She sat up straight and automatically reached for Link’s arm. “Uhm, why is the sky red?”

Link first looked at her face and then lifted his gaze. His eyes widened. “What is…?”

The sky was reddening steadily, darkening clouds whirling through the air. Laya searched the heavens until she spotted the moon above the stable—bright red. She quickly tapped Link’s hand and pointed northward, and he looked.

The moon was bigger than either of them had ever seen it, and it was glowing like a planet of fire. As it climbed higher and higher, the clouds multiplied and drifted swifter, blocking and revealing the moon’s scarlet light. Dark particles began to flutter through the air around them, carrying a heavy aura.

Their eyes met for a second, before they automatically took their stools and shuffled closer to each other. That sense of safety they’d had at the start of the evening had vanished completely; suddenly it felt as if danger was lurking from every side.

Eventually the red moon was at its highest point. Midnight.

It was then that Link heard the voice again.

_Link… Link… Be on your guard. Ganon’s power grows…it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. By its glow, the aimless sprits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to flesh. Link…please be careful._

In the few minutes after the peak had passed, the moon returned to its normal size and color, while the evil particles dissolved.

Laya shivered. “Gosh, that was scary…”

Suddenly Link's hand was on her wrist. "I heard Zelda."

“What?” She watched him with wide eyes. “She spoke to you?!”

He nodded and took his hand away. “She explained about the blood moon.”

“What did she say?”

“Ganon’s power reaches its peak under the hour of the blood moon, and then the monsters slain in the name of the light come back to life.”

Laya groaned and slumped in disappointment. “So that guy was right… All the monsters we defeated in the past two days have returned.”

Link looked at her, noticing her distress. “We won’t have to battle them again if we don’t go back the way we came.”

She answered his gaze with somber eyes.

“Should we go to sleep?” he asked softly. “It’s past midnight.”

After one last glance to the now beautiful and harmless full moon, Laya nodded. “Let’s.”

The two got up and entered the stable. There they learned from Tasseren that they could get special soft beds for a higher price, which was like music to their ears. They bargained a bit with a tired Beedle for extra money, paid for the softer beds and went to sleep.

They awoke the next morning with strengthened bodies and strengthened minds.


	10. Impa and the Histories

The next day began with a horse-catch mission.

“So,” Link said, leading them outside the stable. “Like we saw yesterday, there are horses in the field! Let’s catch some and then head to Kakariko Village.”

Rensa, who was only a meter away, heard his words and perked up. “They’re wild, so ‘til you calm ‘em, it’s gonna be one crazy ride. But there’s no feeling quite like taming a wild stallion! Trust me—I took second place in the Hyrule Horse-Taming Competition!”

Link and Laya shared a meaningful glance.

“HEY!” Rensa cried. “I saw that look you gave each other!” He paused, then pumped his fists. “Fine! You don’t believe me? Let’s go, pals! You and me. Right here. Right now. You want to challenge the second-place Hyrule Horse-Taming Competition winner to a tame-off?! YOU GOT IT, PEOPLE!”

“Uhh…” The two exchanged another look. “OK.”

“That’s the spirit!” the stableman cheered, pumping his fists again. “The only rule is that you must bring a wild horse back to this spot within the time limit!” He gazed over his shoulder, to the wide grassy plains behind the stable. “This area is chock full of wild horses. Any one of them will do!” He faced forward again and raised his fore- and middle finger. “My record is two minutes flat, so you need to bring back a wild horse within that time. PREPARE FOR EXTREME TAMING!”

“Okay!” Laya cheered, throwing her fist in the air. “Let’s go!”

The two sprinted past the campfire, Sagessa, the boxes and fenced area with goats and entered the fields. They soon spotted a quartet of horses grazing between the inactive Guardian carcasses and slowed down, crouching low in the grass and preparing to strike once they were close enough to jump on their backs.

Their first attempt was not successful; one of the horses noticed their presence and fled, alarming its companions. Link and Laya ran after them until they’d calmed down and tried one more time, approaching carefully from behind.

Eventually they’d both managed to mount a horse: Link a brown one and Laya a blue one, both with light-colored manes. After soothing the beasts into relaxation, they galloped to the stable’s counter, where Rensa welcomed them back.

“Amazing! But…I can’t believe you _both_ beat my two-minute record so easily… I mean, I won second place in the Hyrule Horse-Taming Competition!” He paused. “To be fair, it was just my brother and I competing… Anyway, here’s the purse for winning the second official Hyrule Horse-Taming Competition! You earned it.”

And they received a purple rupee.

Laya thanked him and stored the money in the pouch on her belt. During breakfast she and Link had agreed to both keep a share of their funds, since it had already occurred twice that Laya roamed a stable while Link completed a shrine; it would be more convenient if they could both perform trades whenever necessary.

Rensa smiled at them. “I guess there’s more competition out there than I knew about. Maybe Hyrule isn’t all bad after all!”

They returned his smile and then addressed his brother, Tasseren, to register their brand new steeds. It took them a while to pick names, but eventually they settled on Chomp and Chunk. After paying the small fee of fifteen rupees each, they received a bridle and saddle.

“Duo discount!” Tasseren announced, handing them the equipment. With some help from Rensa, they managed to attach the gear to their stallions and mounted them again.

“Oh, and by the way…” Tasseren continued. “If you get separated from your horse, you can whistle and it will come running! But your horse isn’t magic. It can’t hear you if you’re too far away, so do keep that in mind!”

Laya nodded. “Thank you for the advice.”

“Okay,” Link said, turning Chomp towards the north. “Let’s get going.”

And they spurred their beasts forward, continuing the journey to Kakariko Village.

They rode until they reached the fork Rensa had spoken about, and read the signpost that had been placed there: “Kakariko Village” to the north, and “Hateno Village” to the east.

The choice was easily made. Ignoring the path to Hateno, they headed for the decaying Kakariko Bridge that crossed the crescent-shaped Lake Siela.

Here and there dismounting to sniff out remote spots and hidden corners, thereby increasing their supply of food, money, weapons, gems and Korok seeds, they followed the gently up-sloping road that ran behind the bridge. Tall cliffs towered on their left, while a uneven ridge obstructed the view to the lake on their right. Beyond the ridge, as they found out after several meters, lay quite a sight: rocky hills and green fields, with another Sheikah Tower on the south-eastern horizon.

“Gosh,” Laya sighed, gazing longingly at the orange pillar, “it’s so tempting to just fly over. I couldn’t stop looking at it when we were catching horses in the field.”

“Yeah,” Link agreed. “We’ll get it as soon as we’re near.”

So they let the tower be for now and rode on in a relaxed trot, until they spotted an interesting figure on the right side of the road: a huge, beige-colored creature, with a leather satchel around his shoulder. His head was most remarkable: the top branched into two small trees, and his face was hidden behind two bushy eyebrows and a big leaf in the shape of a beard, with a small hole in the center through which his cone-shaped nose poked forward.

Neither of the two knew right away what it was; either a short, thick, living tree, or a Korok giant.

“Shalaka…” he sang quietly, and Link and Laya halted.

Once the creature took note of their curious stares, he jumped in surprise and eagerly leaned forward.

“Shalaka?! You! You two can see me?!”

“We can see you,” they said in unison.

“Shala-zah! Shala-kah!” He waved his arms through the air, absolutely overjoyed at this meeting. “It’s been 100 years since anyone has been able to see me! I’m Hestu, and I need your help!” He made a soft, sad sound and slumped his shoulders. “Those monsters over there stole my beloved maracas!” He turned to the north and gestured to the distance. The Hylians followed his gaze and saw the end of the slope, which was crowned by a solid ridge of stone. “I think they’re still there on the other side of those rocks. I can’t use my powers without them. Shoko… So please! PLEASE get my maracas back from them!”

Laya was already pushing the sleeves up her arms. “Of course we will. Let’s go, Link!”

The two dismounted, sprinted up the hill until they reached the ridge and soon found a small opening to a monster camp with three blue Bokoblins. They charged in without further discussion and beat the monsters within a few seconds, freeing the treasure chest of its malicious lock. Link climbed the ladder to the elevation’s platform and retrieved the maracas, after which they soared down the slope back to Hestu, who was wild with delight.

“SHALA-KALA! Those are… Those are my maracas! Please giiiiiive them to meeeeeeeee!” Link handed them over and Hestu waved them in gratitude, singing a deafening, “SHAAAAAA-LAAAAAH-KAAAAAAH!”

“But wait!” he said then, halting his dance. “There’s something wrong with my maracas!” He slumped again. “The Korok seeds inside are gone! How am I supposed to dance now? Shoko… If I had just one Korok seed, I could sing, dance, and use my powers to help you. You see, I have the power of inventory expansion! So let me know if you find some Korok seeds!”

“Inventory expansion?” Laya repeated and she gestured to Link. “The power to enlarge his mysterious inventory?”

“Exactly… The children of the forest must have taken the Korok seeds from my beloved maracas. I never thought I’d be the target of one of their pranks. Shoko…” He sniffed. “But wait…” He sniffed again. “Do you have a Korok seed?! You do! You got a Korok seed from one of the forest children! If you’ll give me just one Korok seed, I’ll make your inventory bigger in return!”

“Yes, please!” Link said, already taking his pouch to reach for some seeds.

“SHALAKA!” Hestu exclaimed happily. “So which stash do you want more slots in?”

“Weapon stash,” Link said, barely able to wait until Hestu had finished his sentence.

“OH, YEAH!” the Korok cheered. “Shaky sha-kah!” And then followed one of the happiest dances they had ever seen: Hestu shook his big body and waved his maracas up and down, creating a fun beat that Laya couldn’t help but bounce along to. At the end of the routine, Hestu raised his instruments to the sky, summoning red sparkles and shiny leaves that spouted from their tips.

“Dah-na-na-na-naaaaaaaa! Your weapon stash has been expanded.”

Link took the slate and opened his inventory. A new, empty square had been added to the collection.

“Amazing!” Laya whispered in awe, staring at the screen.

“Shalaka!” Hestu continued. “I still smell Korok seeds on you. Want me to expand your inventory again?”

“Yes please!” Link asked for more weapon space and Hestu provided it, requiring a price of two Korok seeds.

Link would’ve loved to receive one or maybe five more of these expansions, but Hestu had other plans: “Oh! Look at the time! I need to get back before Grandpa yells at me. Shoko… Sorry, I have to go. But I still need Korok seeds, so bring some to Korok Forest if you find any!”

“Oh, okay.” Link lowered the pouch with a pout. They still had sixteen seeds left and he was dying to enlarge his inventory as much as possible.

“Thanks for bringing my maracas back. Once I see you off, I’m going back home to Korok Forest! Or did you wanna talk a little more?”

“Yes,” Laya said, grabbing the opportunity. “What is Korok Forest?”

“Korok Forest…” Hestu mused. “It should be somewhere north of here. Grandpa told me, ‘If you get lost, follow the Hylia River and continue north.’ That’s what he said, and Grandpa is no liar.”

“Ah, I see! And what are Korok seeds?”

That question made Hestu hesitate. “Korok seeds…come from the Korok children…and they’re a…little bit…” Laya leaned forward, eager to hear the rest. Hestu took a long pause and then shook his head. “Sorry… I blew out my voice singing. I am the most celebrated musician of Korok Forest, after all! _Shalaka lala_!”

Laya retreated and blinked in confusion.

“Do you wanna talk some more?” Hestu repeated.

“Wait—so those seeds are…?” Laya raised her finger in the air, but had a hunch she’d just receive the same answer if she asked again. So she shook her head, dropped her hand and turned to Link. “Should we go?”

He nodded and looked at Hestu. “Good-bye.”

“Buh-byyyyyyyye!” The giant Korok waved one last time with his right maraca, and Link and Laya returned to their horses.

“I knew they were poops!” Laya said, mounting Chunk. “Why else would he not tell us?!”

“I don’t know.” Link sighed as he got on Chomp’s back. “If only he’d let us trade them all right away.”

“We’re gonna have to look for that forest if we want to increase your inventory to the max.”

“Yep.”

“So _he’s_ the Korok the others needed us to give their seeds to. What a precious thing, isn’t he?” They spurred their horses into a trot and waved as they passed Hestu. “Somehow he feels a bit familiar.”

“I wonder who the last person was who saw him. He said it’d been 100 years.”

“That must’ve been hard, walking around while no one can see you.” Laya placed a hand against her chin. “You don’t think we’re actually the only ones who _can_ see him, right?”

“I wouldn’t know why,” Link said, scratching his head. “But the first Korok I met was surprised too. ‘I didn’t know your kind could see the children of the forest,’ or something like that.”

“Huh, that’s interesting.” Laya tentatively looked at the thick clouds above their heads. “Maybe we’ve got a rare ability.”

They entered a deep chasm between the hills and followed the path heading north. Again they regularly dismounted to collect items and find Koroks, and at some point Link attempted to climb the right wall in order to reach a small protrusion several meters high, from which a small stream flowed down into a tiny pool.

But halfway during his climb rain began to fall, and the stone became too slippery to scale. Involuntarily he slid all the way down and landed on his bum, grumping incoherently.

Laya couldn’t help but snicker, if only for Link’s reaction. “You okay?”

He got to his feet, patted the dirt from his trousers and sighed. “Blast those slippery walls.”

“Allow me.” Laya summoned her wings and flew to the protrusion, where she found two silent shrooms and an ore deposit that provided two flints. Then she sailed down and handed him the items with a small grin. Link himself looked both amused and annoyed with the situation.

The rain kept falling steadily as they journeyed on, and they both regretted not being better equipped for such weather; Link’s warm doublet and Laya’s tunic absorbed the water like a sponge. If the drops weren’t this remarkably lukewarm, they would’ve soon been chilled to the bone.

After finding a Korok on another similar protrusion to the one Laya had frequented a minute before, they spotted the first wooden gate announcing the presence of Kakariko Village.

It was a large gate as wide as the cleft itself. Four blue banners hung from its beams, three of which contained a Sheikah eye and the fourth a triangle with two horizontal lines below, all painted in white. In the center of the front and most prominent beam rested a shimmering eye of polished metal, with an arrow stuck in the middle.

The two halted and observed the arrow in silence.

“…Maybe it’s some kind of traveler’s greeting?” Laya suggested carefully. “‘Hello. I, a new visitor, have come,’ or so…”

“Should I do it just to be sure?” Link wondered, taking his bow from his back.

Laya scratched her cheek. “Could be wise.”

So Link shot one of his arrows and hit the eye. A Korok popped into view.

The duo blinked.

“Aha,” Laya said.

“So no greeting,” Link grinned.

“Depends on how you look at it!" Laya reached up and accepted the seed. "Hello little Korok! We, new visitors, have come!"

"Tee-hee!" the Korok chirped, before flying back to the eye on the gate.

Laya looked at Link, put the seed in her pocket and nodded contentedly. "Clearly delighted to see us."

Link chuckled heartily. "Obviously!"

On their way to the second gate, the slate started beeping a familiar sequence.

“Another shrine!” Laya cheered. “Then we must be close.”

And indeed, after passing through the second gate they arrived at the entrance of the town. They automatically slowed their pace and stepped under several ropes with red wind chimes that were spun across the path—until the village spread out before them.

They dismounted quickly and approached the nearby fence, so they could get a better look.

Kakariko Village was a lovely little place, built in a valley between gigantic stone hills and pillars. It consisted of several wooden houses with thatched roofs, built on terraces walled by low wooden fences. A small creek ran straight through the village from east to west, where it ended in a small pond. Not far from that pond was a long staircase that led to the largest, most beautiful house of them all, built in front of several waterfalls that fell down from Lantern Lake.

Leaving their horses to graze by the entrance, they turned right and followed the path into the village. After a few meters however, they came across a tiny old woman resting beside a burning fire under a large tree. The tree’s canopy blocked the rain that had otherwise trickled down on her.

“Ouch…” the woman mumbled as they approached.

Link kneeled by her side. “Are you okay?”

The old woman looked up and locked eyes with both Link and Laya. “Travelers!” she uttered. “I’m sorry, but I seem to have twisted my ankle… Hmm, let’s see here…” She attempted to get up, and Laya rushed in to help Link support her as she carefully tried to shift her weight from one foot to the other. “Thank you, thank you, young friends. I’m sorry you had to see me like that. Old Nanna isn’t as fit as she used to be.”

Once the youngsters were certain she was stable, they took a small step back to give her space. Nanna raised her eyes to her helpers and studied them for a moment. Her gaze landed on Link’s hip, and she contemplatively pressed her knuckles to her chin. “Say, traveler… Where did you get that…object hanging from your waist?”

“Well, you see…” Link began, before reciting the story of his awakening.

Nanna nodded. “Yes. I see… That Sheikah Slate is a symbol. It means you are the hero of legend.” Laya blinked and looked at Link. “Though there are few who know of such legends anymore… But we Sheikah have been waiting for you for a very long time. Please…before all else, I must insist that you meet with our leader, Lady Impa.”

“Where is she?” Link asked.

The woman turned to her right and pointed across the village. “Lady Impa’s house is below Lantern Falls—just over there.” Looking back at Link, she smiled softly. “In any case…it was a real honor to meet you. Heh, I suppose you’re used to that, having lived as long as you have.” Turning her smile to Laya, she nodded. “And it was a pleasure to meet the hero’s companion. Take care of yourselves on your travels.”

They thanked Nanna and resumed their way, crossing the small wooden bridge over the stream and following the grassy route along the stone wall on their right. They soon reached a fork in the road: the right path would lead them to where the Sheikah Sensor wanted them to go, and straight ahead would bring them to Lantern Falls. They decided to meet Impa first and face the shrine later.

They passed little trees, wooden fences, lovely houses and a cultivated field (“Olkin’s Pumpkins: Open 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM”), trailing the way to the center until they were halted by a woman waving in their direction. “New clothes! Cute outfits!”

She looked slightly older than them and wore clothes similar to Nanna’s: a comfortable beige garment, a dark blue dress underneath and a hat that seemed to ward off the rain perfectly. Interestingly enough, she also had Nanna’s snow white hair, despite her young age.

“Enchanted is open for business every day of the year!” she said with a warm smile. Then her eyes landed on Link and she fell silent. “…Oh, my. Look at that face! You are TOTALLY my type. Hi. I’m Lasli.”

A red glow crept over Link’s cheeks and he brought a hand to the back of his head.

“Ooh, and you even have a Sheikah Slate on your hip!” Lasli continued, unabashed despite her bold confession. Then the happy look on her face faltered. “Wait…huh?” She bent forward and exclaimed so loud that Link and Laya jumped: “A Sheikah Slate?! Isn’t that, like…an incredible thing that only incredible people can have?” Recovering from the surprise, she stood upright and waved her hand. “I’m not sure what this all means, mister… But it seems you’re a great deal more important than you appear.” And she winked at him.

Link, too flustered by the sudden attention, found himself unable to reply. Laya sensed it and stepped in.

“What is this place?” she asked, pointing to the house behind Lasli.

“Yes!” the girl exclaimed, finally paying attention to Laya. “We’re open every day! Enchanted, right this way! We sell the newest and hippest outfits for anyone of any size. Please come in!”

“I see!” Laya looked down at the old tunic she’d been wearing since the moment she woke up and directed her attention to Link. “I guess we could use some new clothes. At least something against the rain. What do you think?”

Link agreed with a nod, so Laya cheerfully took his arm.

“Then let’s go, oh handsome boyfriend of mine!”

And as she pulled Link up the wooden stairs, she heard Lasli grumble, “Of course he’s taken.”

Giggling softly, Laya opened the door to Enchanted and entered the building. The first thing they saw was a middle-aged woman behind the counter on the other side of the room, who addressed them as they entered: “Need some new clothes?”

The shop was small but spacious and contained six different pieces of clothing, lined up against the walls in groups of three: two pairs of pants, a tunic, a shirt, a hood and a mask. Each item was illuminated by two lamps each, and soft purple banners were draped behind them.

“Ooh, nice,” Laya said, placing herself in front of the mask. She was particularly taken in by the hair bun. “If I could do my hair like that, traveling around would be so much more practical!”

Link himself halted at the teal-colored Hylian hood. “And this would stave off the rain.”

“Hm, though we might have a problem.” Laya kneeled in front of the mask’s price tag. “Everything’s a bit expensive…”

Hearing that, Link turned to the counter and approached the shopkeeper.

“Welcome to Enchanted, my high-end boutique!” she said, pumping her fists in excitement. “We exclusively stock the special garments of the Claree Collection! In fact, that stealth chest guard over there is highly recommended! Oh, and we also buy anything you don’t need, so just talk to me when you’re ready.”

“Claree Collection?” Link asked.

“The Claree Collection! As in a high-end collection curated by me, Claree. BUT OF COURSE. I’ve personally selected each and every item in here using my flawless fashion sense. It’s all HIGHLY recommended. Each item has its own unique features and abilities, so take a good look!”

“That sounds promising,” Laya said, coming up behind Link.

After selling a couple of gems and a few dozens of monster parts, they had almost 900 rupees in total and returned to the clothes to see what they could buy.

Laya stopped in front of a piece that, according to its name plate, was called a Hylian tunic. It was a multi-layered, red-and-green garb with several leather belts and protective arm and chest pieces. “Oh this,” she said, pointing at it, “this is beautiful.”

“Hmmm… That will cost ya 120 rupees,” Claree informed her, leaning on the counter with her elbows. “What a steal!”

“But there’s only one here…” Laya mused. “What should we do?”

“I already have these,” Link said, pointing to the Hylian trousers. “How about you buy this set and I’ll check the one on the other side?”

Laya nodded, and they separated. The hood was 60 rupees, while the trousers were 90. Like Link, however, Laya was satisfied with her current pair of leggings, so she purchased just the hood and the tunic for 180 rupees in total.

“Thanks!” Claree said happily. “Take good care of it!”

“I will!” When Laya’s eye fell on an open book on the counter, called _Rumor Mill: Volume 1_ , she bent over the pages and read the following:

_Today’s top gossip spot is… The Lover’s Pond! Legend says that those who find this pond are sure to also find their true love! Sounds worthwhile to me! Traysi’s Recommendation: five stars._

“That sounds romantic,” Laya said.

“Top notch gossip from the one and only,” Claree said. “Traysi’s recommendations are always spot on! If the shop didn’t require my full attention, I would’ve set out for the Lover’s Pond ages ago. I’m keeping this volume here to inspire travelers.” Then she leaned sideways and gazed over Laya’s shoulder at Link, who was checking out the pieces of the purple outfit. “Isn’t that lovely? It’s a limited-edition Enchanted exclusive! While you wear it, your footsteps are nearly soundless, so it’s perfect for hunting and stuff.” Then she continued softly, “Oh, but it offers very little defense. Small price for the extra stealth.”

Link read the price tags, which weren’t very encouraging: the mask was 500 rupees, the tights 600 and the chest guard 700. With the amount they had left, they could buy only one of the three. And they had hardly anything left to sell.

“Stealth would be really useful for fighting all those monsters,” Laya said, taking place beside him with the two new garments in her hands.

“Exactly.”

Eventually he decided on the stealth chest guard, leaving the other two items for when their riches had increased. Claree was overjoyed when they exited the shop in their new outfits.

“You sure you don’t want the hood yourself?” Laya asked once they were on the porch outside, presenting the garb in front of him.

“It’s fine,” Link said, waving a hand. “You put it on.”

She lowered the cloth and pursed her lips. The more time she spent with Link, the clearer she understood that he was selfless by nature. That was a great trait, of course, but not when it came at his own expense. The rain was still falling heavily, and his hair was already soaked to its tips.

So she opened the cape, threw it around his shoulders and pulled the hood over his head. Link reached up in bewilderment and held the fabric at its place while Laya fastened the clasp.

“I could dry myself with a snip of my fingers if necessary,” she smiled, meeting his eyes. “There.”

Link blinked, overcome with surprise. Laya already trotted down the wooden steps of the building and hopped onto the road.

He came after her once he'd recovered. “But you could still get a cold!”

“Indeed I could!” Laya called over her shoulder, skipping westward over the soppy grass. “But so could you.”

There was no way for him to argue with that, and so they crossed the green plaza at the heart of the village and approached the mansion below the waterfalls.

Two older men in Sheikah clothing were positioned before the stairs that led to the entrance. They tensed up when Link and Laya came near and exclaimed in surprise.

The guard on the left, named Cado, stuck out his hand to halt them. “You there! Who are you?! How dare you trespass upon Lady Impa’s abode!” Soon his eyes fell on Link’s slate and he backed down. “Hm? Is that…a Sheikah Slate? But that would mean you are… No, it’s not possible. Can it be?”

The men relaxed visibly.

“Please forgive us for behaving so rudely,” said Dorian, the other guy. “Of course we have heard the legends from Lady Impa herself. Please, friend… Go ahead and step inside.”

The guards split up and revealed the wooden steps that led to Impa’s home. Link passed the gate without any trouble, but Cado placed his hand on Laya’s shoulder when she tried to follow.

“I don’t see you carrying a Sheikah Slate. What makes you think we’d let you through?”

“Eh—” Laya began, not knowing how to answer that question.

Link turned around and stepped down. “She’s my companion.” Placing his hand on her other shoulder, he fixed his gaze on Cado. “And I trust her.”

The guard observed Link in silence, perceiving the determination in his voice. Then he released her. “If the hero says so, I trust him. Go ahead.”

“Thank you, sir.” Feeling a bit bummed for no obvious reason, Laya followed Link upstairs.

Arriving at the large, interestingly decorated wooden doors, they encountered a girl on her knees, cleaning the broad porch with a white cloth. She looked up, locked eyes with Link and jumped to her feet, putting her hands in front of her face.

“A man?!” she shrieked. Then she peeked through her fingers. “Huh? Is that—?!” She lowered her arms and stared at Link in awe. “It’s…a Sheikah Slate!” And she hid her face again. “Could you be the hero my grandmother told me about? What was his name? Li… Lin… Ummm… Oh, it’s not that I forgot… I’m just bad with speaking. As for me, my name is Pa… Paaa… Paaay…”

“Paay?” Laya asked, blinking. The girl dared to look between her fingers but then quickly covered her eyes once more.

“Oh! My name is Paya!” She sighed with relief and revealed herself at last, freed of the terror of self-introductions. Now they could see that she was a cute girl with big brown eyes and long white hair. A red Sheikah eye was tattooed on her forehead. “Phew! I got it out… I know I should be able to say that easily, seeing as how it’s my own name and all… I’m so…sorry. Anyway, my grandmother’s been awaiting your return ever since I was little. Plea…please hurry inside.”

“Thank you,” Link said, turning to the doors.

“Your name’s Paya?” Laya asked, her face lighting up. “That’s funny, my name is Laya!”

Paya blinked in surprise. “Laya? Really? What—what a coincidence!”

“It truly is,” Laya smiled, closing her eyes. “Alright then, I’ll be going!”

“Y-yes.” Paya watched as Link took a hold of the doorknobs, and pressed a hand against her chin. “Hm, I feel like Grandmother has mentioned that name somewhere as well…”

And Link pushed the doors open.

Before them lied a dimly-lit room, with eighteen cushions placed on the floor in neat rows of three. It was filled with soft lights, banners of all kinds and written texts plastered against the wall or pillars, four of which were accompanied by frog statues placed under the ceiling’s wooden beams. Many shelves were lined up against the walls left and right, and two flights of stairs against the back led to the second floor.

Between those two flights was a wooden dais with in its center three orange cushions stacked on top of each other. A small woman was seated atop this pile, her body nearly fully hidden behind a huge straw hat with on the front side a Sheikah eye painted in red. The hat’s tip reached so high that it nearly touched a polished eye—similar to the ones on the Kakariko Village gates—below the ceiling. A striking, glowing orb was placed on a carmine-colored pillow left of the dais.

“…So you’re finally awake,” the woman spoke.

The two narrowed their eyes, Laya peeking over Link’s shoulder.

Impa raised her head slowly. Her wrinkled face revealed a deep inner happiness upon seeing Link: both her mouth and eyes were smiling. She softly patted her knee. “It has been quite a long time…Link. I am much older now, but…you remember me, don’t you?”

But neither Link nor Laya recognized her.

“What is the matter?” Impa asked. “You are looking at me as though I am a stranger to you. Those eyes… They lack the light of familiarity. It is I, courageous one. Impa. Surely you must at least remember the name Impa?” Then she seemed to realize what was going on. “I see… So you have lost your memory.” She shook her head. “Well, it matters not. In fact, that may actually be a blessing in disguise for the time being. Dearest Link… Please come a bit closer.”

Link threw off the hood and entered the room, advancing over a long, dark blue carpet that separated the six rows of pillows like a short path. Laya followed him hesitantly, feeling as if she shouldn’t be here. This was clearly an important moment for Link’s journey; maybe it would’ve been best if she’d stayed behind when the guard held her back at the gate.

Impa noticed her presence and tilted her head for a better look. “You brought a companion?”

Link looked over his shoulder, noticed that Laya was hiding behind his back and took a small step to the side, so that she could present herself. Laya felt flustered in the presence of this clearly ancient woman who had known Link 100 years ago, and she bowed her head to escape Impa’s piercing gaze.

“Uhm,” she began, wringing her hands, “I’m…”

“I don’t believe it…” she heard Impa whisper. “…Laya?”

A deep silence fell. Then at once Laya’s head shot up, her eyes wider than they’d ever been. Impa watched her with a mix of familiarity and confusion, eyes just as big as hers.

“You know me?” Laya asked, her voice unexpectedly unsteady.

Impa, still fully perplexed, nodded solemnly. “Of course. How could I not? I saw you nearly every day for three years.”

Laya’s mouth fell open. “You did?”

“I never knew what had become of you after we left you in that forest,” Impa said, her eyes grave with emotions that Laya could hardly decipher.

“ _You_ left me there?”

“It was our decision, but Link was the one who brought you.” Impa nodded to the boy in question, and Laya quickly looked at him.

Link answered her gaze with an interesting combination of surprise, concern and curiosity on his face; Laya imagined her own expression was more or less the same.

“So we _did_ know each other…” she whispered.

“Indeed you did.” Impa closed her eyes and nodded once. “The two of you were friends.”

Laya felt her heart beat with excitement as she redirected her attention to the Sheikah elder. “Friends? Really?”

“I take it then that you, too, have lost your memory?” Impa asked, opening her eyes again. There was an interesting glint in them.

“Yes…”

Impa sighed. “So it’s happened again… How mysterious.”

“W-what has?” Laya said, so eager to learn the truth that she could barely contain the millions of questions that had started raging inside her mind. “Me losing my memory?”

Impa lifted her head, looking serious. “This requires a bit more explanation than I previously thought. Allow me to begin the story of our history; then you may ask me any questions you might still have.” She gestured to the cushions on the first row, and Link and Laya took place on each side of the blue carpet.

“A hundred years ago…” Impa began. “Yes… A hundred years ago, the kingdom of Hyrule was destroyed.” First she addressed Link. “After you fell, Princess Zelda’s final wish was to place you in a sacred slumber. And then…all alone… Alone she went to face Ganon. Before Princess Zelda went to nobly meet her fate…she entrusted me with some words she wished to say to you. I have been waiting 100 years to deliver the princess’s message.

However!” her voice boomed, startling her two listeners. “These words, which the princess risked her life to leave you… Well, if you are to hear them…” She nodded slowly. “You must be prepared to risk your life as well. But I am afraid that burden may be too much to bear while you are still without your memories. I leave the choice to you. Are you prepared to risk your life for the greater good?”

Link did not need much time to think about it. “I am,” he said with an earnest nod.

Impa slapped her knee in amusement. “Ha! Not a memory to your name, yet you are as intent as ever to charge forward with only courage and justice on your side. You have not changed a bit. Once a hero, always a hero.” She relaxed and clasped her hands together. “Very well. Since you have lost your memory, I will recount for you all that has happened…”

And the story began.

“The history of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of Calamity Ganon, a primal evil that has endured over the ages. This evil has been turned back time and time again by a warrior wielding the soul of a hero, and a princess who carries the blood of the Goddess. With the passage of time, each conflict with Ganon faded into legend. So listen closely as I tell you of this ‘legend’ that occurred 10.000 years ago.”

Laya shifted on her cushion. She was dying to know the truth.

“Hyrule was then blossoming as a highly advanced civilization. Even the most powerful monsters posed little threat to the denizens of the realm. The people thought it wise to utilize their technological prowess to ensure the safety of the land, should Calamity Ganon ever return. They constructed four mechanical wonders that came to be known as the Divine Beasts. They also built a legion of autonomous weapons called Guardians. The Divine Beasts were piloted by four individuals of exceptional skill from across the land. And thus, the plan to neutralize Ganon was forged.

Upon Ganon’s inevitable return to Hyrule, the princess and the hero fought alongside these four Champions against this ancient evil. The Guardians were tasked with protecting the hero as the Divine Beasts unleashed a furious attack upon their terrible foe. And when the hero wielding the sword that seals the darkness delivered his final blow… The princess used her sacred power to seal away Calamity Ganon.

A hundred years ago…in preparation for the foretold revival of Ganon, we strove to follow the lead of our ancestors of 10.000 years prior. But…in the end… Despite our best efforts and careful planning, we underestimated his power. In order to avoid ever making that grave mistake again, the princess left you these words… _Free the four Divine Beasts_. That is what she said.”

“Four Divine Beasts?” Link repeated, asking for clarification.

Impa nodded slowly and carefully got to her feet. “The four Divine Beasts are the ancient Sheikah weapons wielded by the four Champions who Ganon defeated.”

Hopping off the cushions, she took place beside the interesting tapestry that hung on the wall behind her. In the center of it was a drawing resembling the swine Link and Laya had seen shortly after their awakening. On either side of the creature were two small figures, one dressed in white and one in blue, and surrounding them were many other entities. It was hard to properly see from their position, but they could discern the drawing of a castle at the top, accompanied by several Sheikah Towers. Many other characters had been drawn along the upper and lower side.

Gesturing to the four corners of the scroll, Impa continued, “The Divine Beast Vah Rudania, controlled by Daruk of the Gorons. The Divine Beast Vah Medoh, controlled by Revali of the Rito. The Divine Beast Vah Ruta, controlled by Mipha of the Zora. And the Divine Beast Vah Naboris, controlled by Urbosa of the Gerudo.” Impa shook her head as she returned to her cushions. “It would be extremely ill-advised to face Ganon without the power of the Divine Beasts to help you… You must infiltrate the Divine Beasts that were stolen away by Ganon 100 years ago and bring them back to our side. More information about these creations can be found by locating the four races scattered across Hyrule.”

Link took his Sheikah Slate and opened the map, on which, as if reacting to Impa’s words, four yellow marks started glowing.

“The Sheikah Slate will guide you on your way. You must go where it tells you and meet with each leader there.” Her eyes fell on the slate’s nearly all-blue screen. “…It seems to me that your Sheikah Slate is not yet complete. The device Princess Zelda left you is your guide and also your memory. Now, let’s see… Someone at the research lab in Hateno Village might be able to help you…”

“Hateno Village?”

Impa pointed to his slate and Link looked. Another light appeared. “The location shining on the eastern edge is Hateno Village. It is a small village… One of the very few places that avoided suffering significant damage during the Great Calamity. ‘You are Princess Zelda’s only hope, and Hyrule’s, as well,’ is what I was going to say… But it seems fate is taking a fortunate turn.” Her gaze slowly turned to Laya. In her eye glistened something unfathomable. “I believe it is time you heard your story.”

And the second tale commenced.

“A bit over 100 years ago, you arrived at Hyrule Castle, where I worked as an advisor and scientist at the time. You were a remarkable girl, and not only because you seemed to have lost your memory, knowing nothing besides your name; you also possessed magical powers that connected to the four elements of the earth. You came to the castle asking for a place to stay, since you had no idea where you came from or where you should go.”

So the familiar feeling Laya had sensed shortly after her awakening had to do with the fact that she’d lost her memory for the second time…

“King Rhoam, interested in your magic, came with a proposition: you were allowed to stay in the castle, on the condition that we would get to research your power. You agreed, and thus came to live in Hyrule Castle. It didn’t take long before you befriended the young Zelda and, when the time came, the young Link as well. I believe Zelda was fourteen at the time, and Link nearly sixteen… What your own age was, however, we had no idea. Somehow it was impossible to pinpoint. You appeared…timeless.” She shook her head, as if still taken in by this mystery. “In any case, you became a valuable friend to the princess and she often came to you for comfort.”

This news excited Laya immensely. Her eyes were practically shimmering as she listened.

“Through the months—which eventually turned into years—we discovered little about you. We knew which powers you possessed and in which body parts they roamed the strongest. But although we searched almost every day, we didn’t find anything else. Until 100 years ago…

It was a few days before Calamity Ganon escaped that we discovered a hole in the mental storage of your magic. If Ganon were to reappear while you lived among us, he could take control of you and your powers, which he would undoubtedly use against us. We realized later that we should have foreseen this could happen to Guardians and Divine Beasts as well, but the thought didn’t occur to us… We had no choice but to send you to a place protected by magic, where you would be safe from Ganon. Link was the one who brought you to Hyrule Forest, but no one knew what had happened to you afterwards.”

Impa lowered her head, remaining eye contact with Laya. “We didn’t even know you were still alive. We came to look for you after Zelda had sealed Ganon, to let you know it was safe for you to come out of the forest…but it seemed as if you were gone. Even the Great Deku Tree wouldn’t tell us whether he knew of your whereabouts.”

“The what?” Laya asked, rather confused after the whole explanation.

“The Great Deku Tree,” Impa repeated. “An ancient being who lives in Great Hyrule Forest. He watched over you while you were there. I’m guessing he did so for 100 years.” A warm smile spread over her face. “And here you are now, before me, not a day older than when I last saw you. Seeing you and Link here together lifts my heart more than it has been in years. You two used to be very close friends.”

“I see…” Laya looked at Link, and he sent her a smile that warmed her heart. She couldn’t help but smile back. “That makes me very happy.”

“I am curious to know…” Impa spoke slowly, “how you two came to meet again. Have you been outside for long, Laya?”

“Outside the forest?” Laya shook her head. “Not at all. I believe it’s only been three days since I woke up. We met the next day, somewhere…er, west of here?”

“Near the Great Plateau,” Link nodded.

“‘Woke up’?” Impa repeated, her eyes fixed on Laya. “Were you also asleep?”

“Yes…” Laya lowered her gaze to her hands. “I must’ve fallen asleep sometime between that I was brought there and that you came to look for me.”

Impa hummed shortly. “How intriguing… And you, dearest Link? When did you wake?”

He and Laya exchanged a look. “Three days ago…”

It was quiet for a moment. “Both of you woke up three days ago?”

They nodded slowly.

“We even think it may have been at the same time,” Laya said. When Impa questionably raised her eyebrows, she clarified, “Link said he activated the first tower shortly after he woke up, and shortly after _I_ woke up I witnessed the appearance of a different tower.”

Impa didn’t speak for a long time, though she kept eyeing them with an unreadable expression. At last she took a deep breath and asked, “Are you saying that the two of you were both asleep, woke simultaneously despite being miles away from each other and met again no more than a day later, all the while knowing neither who nor where you were?”

“Yeah…” Laya said. Again she caught Link’s eyes. “Pretty much.”

“That is remarkable…” Impa furrowed her brow and placed a hand against her chin, sinking into thought. “Remarkable indeed…”

“Do you know why that could be?” Link asked.

Impa pondered for a moment, but then she shook her head. “I fear I do not.”

“Ah, okay…” Laya sank into her cushion. “Then I guess all that remains a mystery, but I’m glad to know more now. So we both lived in the castle 100 years ago and were friends with Princess Zelda. What…what exactly did you mean with a hole in my mental storage? Is…there a part of my brain missing?”

“No, my dear,” Impa chuckled. “It is not a physical gap. Unfortunately we only discovered that it was present, and not how it came to be.”

“I see. And you said I came to the castle without any memory, didn’t you? We never found out what had happened to me?”

“We did not. However, when the Calamity struck I took the data from our research with me and continued the investigation, despite not knowing whether I would see you again.” She hopped from her cushions and the dais and strutted, bent over with age, to one of the shelves against the wall. She searched deep through its contents, before returning with a small brown book.

“We discovered more, that final day you were with us,” she said, sitting down cross-legged. “But due to lack of time and security, we could not inform you of it yet.” She opened the book, and even from their position on the floor Link and Laya could see how worn the yellow pages were. “Namely that the magical energy flowing within you equaled parts of the Hyrulian land, vibrating at the same frequency. Although we didn’t understand what that meant, we kept researching these specific places after you were gone.”

She held up two pages, which showed a small map drawn in black ink. Four different locations had been marked with a red cross.

“These places are west of Lake Totori, in the east of the Gerudo Desert, in the north of Akkala and east of Zora’s Domain,” Impa said, pointing them out one by one. “We do not know why these places appear to have such a strong connection to your magic, but perhaps we did not possess the right tools to uncover this mystery.” She closed the book and fixed her gaze on Laya. “No matter what your true story is: it goes further than your life in the castle 100 years ago. I believe the person at the Hateno Village Research Lab can give you the specific locations of these four places on your Sheikah Slate. And if I’m correct, they might be able to tell you a bit more about that hole in your mental storage.”

“I see,” Laya said. “Thank you very much!” 

There was a keen smile on Impa’s face. “Since it looks like you two are going the same way, I suggest you don’t leave each other’s sides.”

The two friends locked eyes. There was something peaceful and happy in both their faces.

“I don’t think we were planning to do that anyway,” Link said, and Laya felt herself beam.

“Excellent. Then it is time for you to go.” Impa’s face turned stern and serious. “You cannot turn back now. Follow your heart and seize your destiny!”

“Yes!” Laya exclaimed, throwing her fists in the air.


End file.
